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THE CHILD'S 



BOOK ON THE SABBATH. 



I 



BY THE REV. H. H O Q^K E R 




NEW-YORK : 
PUBLISHED BY LEAVITT, LORD & CO. 

18 0, Broadway: 

BOSTON : C ROCKER «fe BREWSTER. 



1835. 



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Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1835, by 
Leavitt, Lord & Co., in the clerk's office of the district court for the 
eouthern district of New York. 



J3:^-f 



PREFACE. 



The c&ildren and youth of the present generation, 
will, without doubt, have to decide whether the sab- 
bath shall be preserved to our country, as a day holy 
to the Lord. Ought they not then, to know the na- 
ture and value of this institution, and the dangers 
which threaten its existence ? However others inay 
feel, the author must regard this subject as one re- 
specting which the young ought to be faithfully and 
fully instructed. If with a fair view of the design of 
the sabbath ; of the authority by which it is establish- 
ed ; and of its close connexion with the interests and 
eternal destinies of men, the youth of our country 
shall say, '•' Let the sabbath cease to be holy, let it be 
a day of dissipation and merriment," we should weep 
over their decision. But, having set before them 
their duty, we should still have the satisfaction of 



Preface. 

feeling that we have done what we could to prevent 
this calamitous result. 

It has been the design of the author, in the follow- 
ing pages, to employ such language and modes of 
illustration^ as shall render the subject not only in- 
telligible, but interesting to the young. At the same 
time, he has kept in view persons of more advanced 
age ; and he indulges the hope that what he has 
written may not be unprofitable to readers of this 
class. 

Some may think that so much notice ought not to 
have been taken of objections against the sabbath^ 
est it should weaken the respect for the institution. 
If the young could be kept in ignorance of these ob- 
jections, the author would assent to thfs view of the 
subject. But at the present day, such a thing can- 
not reasonably be expected. The enemies of the 
sabbath are many, and they are active and bitter in 
their opposition. Tracts and pamphlets, and news- 
papers, and all the means of disseminating truth are 
now perverted to the diffusion of error. It is impos- 
sible to prevent this. Shall the advocates of the sab» 
bath, then, state the objections of the enemy fairly ^^ 



Preface. 

and refute them by clear and convincing arguments, 
or rfhall they suffer them to be brought before the 
minds of the young, when no one is at hand to show 
their fallacy 1 The former course seems most expe- 
dient to the author. 

It is suggested, whether parents might, not profit' 
ably make a chapter of this book the ground work 
of a short exercise, with their children, after meet- 
ing on the sabbath. A succession of such exercises^ 
until all the chapters had passed under review, would 
revive in their own minds, the reasons in favour of 
the sabbath, and impress these reasons on the minds 
of their children. A similar exercise perhaps, might 
not b3 unsuitable for classes in sabbath schools. 



l^ 



TABLE OF CONTENT! 



E V E N I N G I. 



SABBATH SET APART IN PARADISE. 

Mrs. Martyn. Why Mrs. M. had these conversatians with her chil- 
dren. Why God rested on the seventh day, sanctifying the sabbatho 
Sabbath, why sanctified. Reason universal. Sabbath by anticipa- 
tion- Illustration of it. Answer to the objection. God kind in giv- 
ing us the sabbath. 



EVENING II. 

SABBATH SET APART IN PARADISE. 

Not mentioned until the time of Moses. Illustration from History of 
Charles Vth. Mosaic account brief. Not mentioned for almost 
five hundred years after Joshua. Early division of time into w^eeks. 
Probably on account of the sabbath. Ancient heathen had a sabbath. 
Objections from 16th Chapter of Exodus. Answer. Case supposed, 
Good men love the sabbath. Sabbath needed by all. Probably kept 
by Noah, Abraham, and Jacob. Review. 



Contents. 



EVENING III. 



SABBATH DESIGNED FOR ALL. 

Fourth commandment. Not designed only for the Jews. Nor a part 
of the ceremonial law. Jewish punishment of sabbath breakmg- 
Not binding on us. Explanation of moral commandment.^. Positive 
commandments. Difference between ceremonial and moral law. 
Illustrations. Ten things spoken by God to Israel Sabbath among 
them. Sabbath a memorial of creation. Occupies a peculiar place = 
Written by the Holy Spirit on the heart. Recapitulation. 



E V E N I N G I V. 

SABBATH DESIGNED FOR ALL. 

The boy that broke the sabbath, and was hurt. Accidents on the sab- 
bath. Special judgments. Sabbath, sign of the covenant. Answer- 
The Nile. Tlie rainbow. Fourth commandment has not expired of 
its own limitation. Illustration from law of Congress Nor repeal- 
ed. Objection from Paul's writings examined. Prophets predicted 
the continuance of the sabbath. Sabbath as necessary for Christians 
as for Jewsj and more important. 

EVENING V. 

CHANGE OF THE SABBATH. 

Time divided into three periods. Some great event commemorated by 
each. A change to be expected when Christ came. PTOofsofa 



Contents. 



change from the Bible. No express command for the change. Rea- 
son. Testimony of early writers. Ignatius. Pliny. Justin Martyr- 
Ireneus. Eusebius. Change consistent with the fourth command- 
ment. Supposed case, Jews in Palestine. Sandwich Islands- 
Sailing round the world in different directions changes the day of th© 
sabbath. 

EVENING VI. 

SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE BODY. 

Things fitted to each other. Examples. Sabbath fitted to man. 
Sabbath necessary for the body. Examples. Statement of H. R° 
Schoolcraft. Of Dr. Spurzheim. Of Dr- Rush. Of Dr. Fa rre. Ani- 
mals and vegetables do not need the sabbaih. Sabbath a blessing to 
the poor. Price of labour. As much for six days work as for seven. 

EVENING VI L 

SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE MIND. 

Mind needs rest. Anecdote of Sir Isaac Newton. Brain the organ of 
thought. Influence of long ccniinued feeling. Case of Mrs. F- 
Sabbath diverts and soothes the mind. Marquis of Londonderry^ 
Mr. Wilberforce. Sabbath aids the judgment. Illustration. Sab^ 
bath fitted to man's moral nature. Hymn. 

EVENING VIII. 

SABBATH NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY. 

Laws entbrcing the sabbath. Promotes the welfare of society. Ob-^ 
jection, that the Sabbath increases dissipation. Answer. Influ- 



10 

Contents. 



ence of a day of repose on good morals. "Truce of God," describ- 
ed. Sabbath promotes intelligence. Illustration. Deacon Stockton, 
and father of Thomas Bradish. Sabbath a common schooL 



EVENING IX. 



SABBATH NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY. 

Influence of sabbath schools. Dr. Milne. Books for the sabbath. 
Sabbath aids in governing men. Illustrations. Men not governed 
by laws only. Nor by force Only. Case of France. Sabbath pecu- 
liarly necessary in a republic. New-England. France. Spain* 

' Scotland in 1763, and in 1783. Proportion of criminals that break the 
sabbath. Boy in state prison. Remark of Baxter. Sabbath in U. 
States more valuable than in other countries. 



E V E N I N G X. 

MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 

What is meant by remembering the sabbath. Rest of the sabbath, not 
idleness. Necessary repose may be taken. Late labour on Satur, 
day evening. Public worship a duty on the sabbath. Required of the 
Jews. Delightful to good men of old. Neglect of, sign of declen- 
sion. Promotes humility. Preparation for public worship. Children 
at play in the house of God. Sleeping during public worship. Kx' 
amples. Farmer Hughes. Mr. Dickman, the blacksmith. Mr. 
Mortimer, the merchant. Talking politics. Robbing orchards during 
Intermission. 



11 

Contents. 



EVENING XI. 



MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 

Private devotion, reading and meditation. Criticism on sermon. Con. 
versation about dress. Variety of exercises prevents tati^rue. Ex- 
ample ot Judge P. Different organs of the brain for different objects. 
Family instruction on the sabbath. Men divided into families in 
Eden. Fourth, a family commandment. Close of the sabbath. A 
recollection. Places where children can enjoy the sabbath. Domes„ 
tics have a right to the sabbath. Beasts of labour have a right to 
rest. Anecdote. Heart in the duties of the sabbath. 



EVENING XII. 

VIOLATIONS OF THE SABBATH, 

Some things may be done on the sabbath. Rules to decide what. Il- 
lustration from the small pox. Case of danger of losing a debt. O* 

I sailing in a steam boat. Of labour when a crop is in danger. Jews 
forbidden to labour in harvest. Poverty no excuse. We ought not 
to let a crop spoil. Answer. Crop saved from fire. Reasons for the 
difference. Improper conversation. Sinful thoughts. How to judge 
on this subject. Wrong to go to the Post Office. Exception. Or to 
to travel. Or to work for a living. The stage driver. Government no 

^ right to violate the sabbath. Rule respecting labour. 

EVENING XIII. 

MOTIVES FOR KEEPING THE SABBATH. 

The"command of God. Our own good. God's promise. What it has 
done for our country. The safety of our country. Others indisposed 



12 

Contents. 



to ksep the sabbath. If not well kept, will be a curse. Example and 
testimony of good men. Nehemiah. Sir Matthew Hale's testimony- 
Dr. Johnson and Sir Joshua Reynolds. Bishop Porteus and Prince 
of Wales. Increases one's influence. Sign of our reverence for God- 
Mr. Wilberforce and Mrs. Hannah More. Moving power of the mo- 
ral world. Illustration. Different ends of a well kept, and an abused 
sabbath. 



EVENING XIV. 

DANGERS THREATENING THE SABBATH. 

Transportation of the mail. Increasing number of foreigners. Growth 
and influence of large cities. Increase of manufacturing villages. 
Of luxury and wealth. Of want of religious instruction. Unfavour- 
able circumstances of new settlements. Dislike of religious restraint. 
Growing laxness among good men. Change in mode of keeping 
the sabbath. Facts, Intercourse with Europe. Increase of Roman 
Catholics. Sabbath in Paris and Malta. Catliedral dedicated in St* 
Louis. What can the young do for the sabbath ? Must give up all 
else sooner than the sabbath. 



THE 

CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. 



EVENING I. 

SABBATH SET APART IN PARADISE, i 

George, Charles, and Susan, are the names 
of the children who will be frequently men- 
tioned in what I am now about to write.— 
George was thirteen, Charles eleven, and 
Susan nearly nine years of age. — If any of 
my young readers doubt whether there ever 
were two such boys as George and Charles, 
and such a little girl as Susan ; they may 
suppose that some other children with these 
names, said what I represent George and 
Charles and Susan, as saying in this story. 
— Perhaps you may think there never was 
such a person as the woman I call Mrs. Mar- 
tyn, the mother of these little children ; well 
then, you may suppose, if you please, that 

2 



14 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 1. 

The little children's father a physician. 

that your own mother says to you, what I 
represent Mrs. Martyn as saying to her chil- 
dren- 

The husband of Mrs. Martyn wa& a phy- 
sician. He was obliged to be absent from 
his family a good deal, and that was the rea- 
son why Mrs. Martyn took the chief charge 
of their education. She was a woman of 
good sense, and she had studied more than 
most women^ because she wished to know 
how to teach her children. It is a great bless- 
ing to have a pious and sensible mother, who 
can instruct her childFen about God, and their 
own souls, and the w^ay to be happy hereafter. 

Mrs. Martyn used, every sabbath evening, 
to call her children around her, and ask them 
what they remembered about the texts, and 
the sermons which they had heard that day 
at meeting. And sometimes she wouM tell 
them a story out of the Bible, or read to them 
some useful book which she thought would in- 
struct them and make them better. 

I have known some fathers and mothers 



Evt. 1.3 SABBATH SET APART IN PARADISE. ] 5 

How Mrs. Martyn spent sabbath evenings with her children. 

who made their children repeat the cate- 
chism to them on sabbath evening, but the 
children did not love at all to have the time 
come for saying the catechism. George and 
Charles and Susan Martyn however, always 
loved to gather around their mother after 
supper on the sabbath — for it made them hap- 
py to see their mother so pleasant and cheer- 
ful. Mrs. Martyn always tried to be cheerful, 
and especially on the sabbath, and when she 
talked with her children on serious subjects.. 
She thought that if she was gloomy, her chil- 
dren might think religion made her so, and 
they would not wish to be religious. I believe 
there are few children who would not on sab- 
bath evening, love to sit on the knees of their 
parents, or to stand by their side, and say the 
catechism, and would think it the happiest 
time in the week, if their parents only looked 
a little more cheerful and pleasant. 

Mrs. M. had often talked with her children 
about the sabbath, and had taught them to. 



16 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 1 

Dr. Martyn's brother an Infidel. 

keep it holy. She began to ihink however^ 
that it was time to tell them, more particular- 
ly, why they ought to love and observe the 
sabbath. She wished to have them able, 
when they grew up, to give to others a rea- 
son for resting on the sabbath, and for keep- 
ing their thoughts from worldly business. 
She knew that if they lived, they would be 
tempted to break the sabbath, and that while 
they were young, was the best time to guard 
them against these temptations. 

She had another reason for wishing them 
to be instructed, now, about the sabbath, 
A brother of Dr. Marty n lived near by, and 
often visited the family. He did not care at 
all for the sabbath. To be sure, he did not 
work on that day, because it would grieve his 
friends, and because others would talk about 
it. But he would often speak disrespectfully 
concerning the ^^abbath before her children. 

Mrs. Martyn thought George was old 
enough to understand all the reasons for 



Eve. 1.] SABBATH SET APART IN PARADISE. 17 

Why Mrs. Mart5rn took charge of the education of her children. 

keeping the sabbath, and that Charles and 
Susan^ if they could not understand all the 
reasons, might understand enough to do them 
much good. 

She waited several weeks, hoping that her 
husband might be able to give them some 
lessons about keeping the sabbath. But he 
was too busy in curing the sick- So she deter- 
mined to wait no longer. She began to read 
all the good books she could find on the sub- 
ject. She thought it all over herself, and 
when she was prepared, she told George and 
Charles and Susan, after tea one sabbath eve- 
ning, that she wished them to be very attentive 
to what she should say to them about the sab- 
bath. She told them that she hoped they 
would never forget it, but remember it when 
their mother was lying in the grave, and could 
not talk with them, and give them good advice 
any more. 

Mrs. Martyn's voice trembled, and a tear 
stood in her eye, as she thought how soon she 



18 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. T 

Conversation about the sabbath. 

might be torn from her dear children. But 
she wiped away the tear and in a moment, 
was as cheerful as ever. The thought only 
made her spirit a little more serious, and her 
silent prayer more earnest, that she might say 
something which would do her children good, 
and fit them for the endless sabbath. George 
and Charles, and Susan were very sad at 
what their mother told them, and said, they 
hoped their mother would live as long as 
they did. 

The sun cast his mellow evening rays into 
the windows of the room where Mrs. M. and 
her children sat around a table, on which 
were a large bible, a hymn book, and several 
other serious books, which they had been 
reading. Mrs. M. began her conversation 
about the sabbath. 

Mrs. M. George, can you tell me how 
long it is since the world was created ? 

George. Almost six thousand years, mother. 
It was about four thousand years from the 



Eve. 1.] SABBATH SET APART IN PARADISE. -^ 19 
Creation of world. 

creation to the time when our Saviour was 
born, and it has been more than eighteen 
hundred years since. 

3Irs, M, How long was God in creating 
the world I 

George. Six days, mother. 

Mr^. M. Do you suppose my child, that 
God could not make the world, though it is 
so very large, in le«s than six days? 

George. I suppose God could have made 
this world, and a thousand more worlds just 
like it, in one day, if he had pleased. 

Mr^. M. Why then, do you think he spent 
six days in making the world 1 

George. I think, mother, it must have been 
because he meant to have men work six days, 
before they have a day of rest. 

Mrs. M. Very well, my son, I think that is 
the reason. 

Now, Charles, see if you can tell me what 
God did on the seventh day ? 

Charles, He rested, mother, the bible tells 
us—I have read it n great many times ? 



20 CHILD'H BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve, I. 

Sanctification of the seventh day. 

Susan. Why mother, did God want to rest? 
He could not be tired. 

Mrs. M. Can you answer your little sis- 
ter's question, Charles \ 

Charles. Yes, mother, I learned why he 
rested in my sabbath school lesson. 

Mrs. M. Tell Susan then, what the bible 
says about it. 

Charles. " And on the seventh day God 
ended his work which he made ; and he rest- 
ed on the seventh day, from all his work 
which he had made. And God blessed the 
seventh day^ and sanctified it; because that 
in it he had rested from all his work which 
God created and made.'' 

Mrs. M. I am glad, my son, that you re- 
member so well your sabbath school lesson. 
Some children, I fear, forget what they re- 
cite on the sabbath, before the close of 
the week. But to study so, does very little 
good. 

Susan. What, mother, does it mean, for 
God to sanctify the Sabbath ? 



Eve. L] sabbath SET APART IN PARADISE. 21 

What sanctification means. 

Mrs. M. Come Charles you must be Susan's 
teacher again^ I believe. 

Charles. Our superintendent, when he 
asked us questions in the sabbath school, 
said, it means that God has set opart the sab- 
bath for his own use; that he lets men work 
for themselves six days, but on the sabbath 
they must rest from their common work, and 
spend the day in God's service. 

Mrs. 31. I feel very thankful that you have 
so kind and faithful teachers at the sabbath 
school. 

You see then, my children, that it is God 
who has commanded us to keep the sabbath ; 
and that he set apart the sabbath for himself, 
as soon as he made the world, and before 
Adam and Eve were driven from the garden 
of Eden. The sabbath must be of more 
consequence to man than almost any thing 
else, or God would not so soon have com- 
manded them to keep it. 

Do you not think it very kind, George, for 



22 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Ev£. 1. 

Why God appointed a sabbath. 

God to let men eat the flesh of cattle and 
birds 1 

George. Yes, mother, I should not know 
how to live without meat very long. 

Mrs. M, Weil, my son, I suppose God 
did not take care that men should have meat 
to eat, so soon as he took care that they should 
have the sabbath. 

George. What makes you think so, mother] 

■Mrs-. M. Because, the bible never men- 
tions that men had a right to eat flesh, until 
after the flood, but it mentions the sabbath 
as soon as the world was created. 

George. Mother, was the sabbath meant 
for every body to keep. 

Mrs, M. Certainly. What reason does 
God give, in the passage which Charles has 
just repeated, for sanctifying the seventh day 
as the sabbath 1 

George. It was that he had rested on the 
seventh day from all his works. 

Mrs. M. What reason is given in the 



23 SABBATH SET APART IN PARADISE. [Eve. 1. 

Uncle John. 

fourth commandment, why God sanctified the 
seventh day for the sabbath I 

George, It is the same reason which I 
have just mentioned. For in six days the 
Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all 
that in them is, and rested the seventh day ; 
wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day 
and hallowed it. 

Mrs, M. Can you think, my son, of any na- 
tion, or of any family, for whose resting this 
is a better reason, than for any others resting. 

George. No, mother, I cannot see why 
God's resting on the seventh day, is any more 
reason why the Jews should rest than why 
we should rest. 

Mrs. M. It is no more reason, my child. 
But what made you ask if it was meant that 
every body should keep the sabbath 'f 

George. Uncle John said the other day, 
that he was not going to keep the sabbath ; 
for God did not command any body to keep 
k, except the Jews. 

Mrs. M. I am sorry, my son, that your 



24 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 1. 

Pilgrim Fathers. 

Uncle John says so. You must not mind what 
he tells you about such things, if it contradicts 
what the bible says. 

George. But, mother, Uncle John said that 
God did not command men to keep the sab- 
bath, until long after the world was created. 
He said that Moses mentioned the sanctifica- 
tion of the sabbath, by anticipation. I do 
not think I understand what he meant ; can 
you tell me, mother ? 

Mrs. M. I will try to explain it to you. Sup- 
pose I were to tell you the history of New- 
England. I should very soon get down to the 
year 1620, when the first white settlers, who 
are called sometimes, pilgrim fathers, came 
to this country. I should then describe how, 
one cold day in December, they landed on 
Plymouth Rock. I might then say, where- 
fore the sons of the pilgrims come together, 
every year, at Plymouth, and celebrate the 
twenty-second of December as a festival, 
because on that day their ancestors landed 
on Plymouth Rock. 



Eve. 1.] SABBATH SET APART IN PARADISE. 25 

Uncle John's disbelief of the bible. 

It was, 1 think, about two hundred years 
after the landing of the pilgrims, before their 
sons began to celebrate the twenty-second of 
December. But in my story, I join together 
the landing of the pilgrims, and the celebra- 
tion of their landing, though one was almost 
two hundred years before the other. Your 
Uncle John thinks Moses does just so in his 
account of the creation. He thinks that 
Moses joins together God's resting on the 
seventh day, and the setting apart of that 
day for the sabbath, though the seventh day 
was not set apart for the service of God, until 
twenty-five hundred years after God rested 
from the work of creation.. And this is what 
your Uncle John meant, when he told you that 
Moses, in his history, mentions the sabbath 
by anticipation. 

George. I think I understand it now, mother; 
but is what Uncle John says about this true \ 

Mrs, 31. I do not think it is true. 

George. Why do you not think it is true.^ 

3Trs. TrL Do you remember what God did, 



36 CH1LD*S BOOK ON THE SABBATH! [Eve. f. 



There is the same reason for believing what God did 

on the different days in which he made the 
world? 

Charles. I remember, mother. 

Mrs. M. Well then, you may tell us. 

Charles. On the first day God made the 
Hght. On the second day he made the firma- 
ment. On the third day he made the dry 
land. On the fourth day he told the sun and 
moon to shine. On the fifth day he told the 
fish to swim about in the sea, and the fowls 
to fly up high in the air. On the sixth day 
he made the oxen and elephants, and all the 
beasts anxJ creeping things. And I suppose, 
that towards the close of the day he made 
Adam. 

Mrs. M. Very well, Charles, but whatdtd 
God do on the seventh day.? 

Charles. God rested on the seventh day 
and sanctified it for the sabbath. 

Mrs. M. Moses says so, my children. He 
tells what God did on the seventh day, just 
as he tells what God did on the sixth da>, and 
on the fifth day, and on the other days. 



Eve. l.T SABBATH SET APART IN PARADISE. 27 

on the seventh as on the other days of the week. 

Do you think, George, that what Moses 
represents God as doing on the fourth day, 
was not done until two thousand five hun- 
dred years afterwards ? 

George. No, Mother, I suppose the sun 
and moon were made on the fourth day^ just 
as Moses says they were. 

Mrs. J£ But you might just as well affirm 
that the sun and moon were not made until 
two thousand five hundred years after Moses 
declares they were made, as that God did not 
sanctify the sabbath on the seventh day. 

George. I think mother, of another reason 
for believing that the sabbath was sanctified 
at the close of creation. The biWe says in the 
fourth commandment ; ^'For in six days the 
Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all 
that in them is, and rested the seventh day; 
wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, 
and hallowed it.'' Now, mother, the bible 
does not say here, " wherefore the Lord bless- 
es the sabbath day." Nor does it say where- 
fore the Lord will bless the sabbath day, 



28 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 1. 

Good reasons for believing the bible account. 

it says, that God had already ^'blessed the 
sabbath day and hallowed it/' before he spoke 
to the Israelites from Sinai — ^and when was 
this done, if not when be rested from his 
work on the seventh day? 

Mrs. 3L It is as you say, my son, and I 
am glad to see that you have thought so much 
on the subject. 

George. I think it would be very strange 
if the Jews had not been commanded, until 
th'^y came back from Babylon, to keep the 
Passover, that they might remember how kind 
God was in passing by their houses, while he 
slew all the first-born of the Egyptians. 

Mrs. M It would have been very strange 
— but not more strange than that the sabbath 
should not have been observed as a memorial 
of the creation, until the time of Moses, two 
thousand five hundred years after the world 
was made. 

George, While Adam and Eve were in 
the garden of Eden does not the bible say, 
*' Therefore shall a man leave his father and 



Eve. 1.] SABBATH SET APART IN PARADISE. 29 

Inconsistency of Uncle John. 

mother, and shall cleave to his wife ; and 
they twain shall be one flesh. Is this too, 
said by anticipation. From the narrative, I 
should think it quite as likely that Moses got 
before his story, when he speaks of marriage 
as when he spoke of the sabbath. And 
from the language of Moses, uncle John, I 
think, might as well say that marriage was not 
commanded, before the Israelites came out of 
Eo-ypt, as that men were not commanded to 
keep the sabbath before that time. 

Mrs. M. We have now talked on the sub- 
ject enough for one night. Think, my chil- 
dren, hov\7 kind God has been, to give you the 
sabbath. To-day you have been permitted 
to rest, while a great many little boys and 
girls have been obliged to work until they 
were very tired. You have been to churchy 
where good people offered up their prayers 
and praises to God. You have heard the in- 
vitations of mercy, and been told what you 
must do to be saved. Accept these invita- 
tions—obey these words, do not forget them, 

3 



30 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 1. 

Pray for heathen children. 

for, one day, the Lord Jesus Christ will in- 
quire what use you have made of them. And 
when, before you go to sleep, you thank God 
for the mercies of another holy day, remem- 
ber to pray for the many, many children, that 
know nothing- about the sabbath, and never 
heard of the Lord Jesus Christ, 



31 



EVENING IL 

SABBATH SET APART IN PARADISE. 

A FEW minutes after tea, the next sabbath 
evening, Mrs. M. went into the room where 
she had the former conversation with her 
children about the sabbath. George, and 
Charles, and Susan were sitting- around the 
table, waiting for their mother. Mrs. M. told 
them she was very happy to see so good a 
sign, that they were interested in the subject. 
The children all said they loved, very much, 
to converse with their mother respecting the 
sabbath, and they hoped that she would talk 
to them a good while, that evening. She 
asked them if they thought, during the week, 
of what she had told them in her former con- 
versation. 

George. I thought of it, mother, very often^ 
and I want to ask you, now, what makes 
any body doubt whether God sanctified the 
sabbath on the same seventh day on whick 



32 CHlLD^S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 2. 

Objections to the Bible account 

he rested himself. I read over, last week, 
again and again, the account which Moses 
gives of the sanctification of the sabbath, in 
Genesis ii. 2, 3. I wonder how uncle John, 
or any body else, can think the seventh day 
was not sanctified for the sabbath at that 
time. 

Mrs. M. The most natural meaning of the 
language, is that the sabbath was sanctified 
at that time. And the reason why your uncle 
John, and others who agree with him on this 
point, do not think this is the meaning, is, 
that they suppose nothing further is said 
about the sabbath until the Israehtes left 
Egypt. They think that if Noah, and Abra- 
ham, and Jacob had kept the sabbath, the 
bible would have mentioned it. 

George, I should think so too, mother. 
Does not the bible say any thing about the 
sabbath, from the creation until the time of 
Moses 1 

Mrs. M. The bible mentions only a few 
things that happened, for twenty-five hundred 



Eve. 2.] SABBATH SET APART IN PARADISE. 33 

of the Sabbath considered, 

years after the world was made. Do you 
know George, how many chapters there are 
in Genesis 1 

George. Yes, mother, there are fifty. 

Mrs. M. These fifty chapters contain the 
history of two thousand three hundred and 
sixty-nine years, and the first and second 
chapters of Exodus carry the history down 
to the time when Moses was keeping the 
flocks of his father-in-law in Midian. This 
was two thousand, five hundred and thirteen 
years after the creation. Now, GeorgO; how 
large a book would these fifty chapters of 
Genesis and two chapters of Exodus, make, 
if printed just like Robertson's History of 
Charles 5th, in your father's library X 

George. I do not know, mother—how many 
pages would they make \ 

Mrs. M, I have not calculated very ac- 
curately. I think that if you leave out seve- 
ral chapters which are almost entirely names, 
and three or four chapters that give an ac- 
count of the creation of the Avorld and the 
fall of man, the remainder would make only 



34 CHILDVS BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 2, 



Bible history very comprehensive. 



about fifty-five pages like those in the History 
of Charles 5th. Do you remember, George, 
how many pages there were in that History? 

George. There are five hundred and eighty 
pages, mother. 

Mrs. M, And how old was Charles 5th^ 
when he died] 

George, Fifty-eight years, mother. 

Mrs. M. Now, my son, if it takes five hun- 
dred and eighty pages to give the history of 
one man's life, for only fifty-eight years, 
how very small a part of the history of the 
whole world, for two thousand five hundred 
years, can be got into fifty-five or sixty 
pages ? 

George. I did not think of that before, I 
see now that a great many things must be 
left out, in such a brief history as that of 
Moses. 

Mrs. M. Yes, my son, it must be so. And 
it would be no wonder that Moses should not 
mention the sabbath among the few things 
which he relates in all that long time. 

Besides, if you conclude that there was no 



E7E. 2.] SABBATH SET APART IN PARADISE. S5 



Division of time into weeks. 



sabbath from the creation until the time of 
Moses, because the sabbath is not mention- 
ed during this period, you ought to conclude, 
for the same reason, that there was no sab- 
bath for almost five hundred years afterward. 
For the sabbath is not mentioned, in the 
bible, from the time of Joshua, to the reign 
of David. And do you think Joshua and all 
the good people of Israel forgot the sabbath 
so soon after God came down on Sinai, in 
flaming fire, and told them to remember the 
sabbath-day to keep it holy ? 

George. No, mother, I think Joshua would 
iove to keep the sabbath. But is there no 
evidence that the sabbath was observed in the 
world, after God sanctified it, on the seventh 
day, until the Israelites came out of Egypt? 

Mrs. M. The division of time into weeks 
appears to have been very early. 1 can see 
no reason for such a division, unless it marked 
out the space between one sabbath and an- 
other. The sun, and the moon divide time 
into days and months and years — but neither 



86 CHILD^S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eye. 2. 

The seventh day, a mark of time 

the sun, nor the moon, nor any other heavenly 
body, divides time into weeks. God told 
Noah that in seven days it should rain on the 
earth. Again, it is said that after seve7i days, 
the waters of the flood were upon the earth. 
Noah, you remember, sent out a dove, to learn 
whether the waters had dried up. The dove 
returned. Noah waited seven days and sent 
her out again, and again she returned. After 
waiting seve7i days more, Noah sent her out 
again. There was evidently something pe- 
culiar about the seventh day, in the time of 
Noah, and what way was it, if not because 
that day was the sabbath ? In the story of 
Jacob and Laban, mention is made of the 
week, which shows that time was, at that 
early period, divided into weeks, and proba- 
bly so divided on account of the sabbath. 

The ancient heathen respected the seventh 
day-^— Homer andHesiod say that the seventh 
day was holy. Porphyry, an infidel, says 
that the Phenicians consecrated one day as 
holy. Josephus says, that there is no city. 



Eve. 2.] SABBATH SET APART IN PARADISE. 57 

among the ancients. 

either of Greeks or barbarians, or any other 
nation, where the religion of the sabbath is not 
known. All these are ancient writers. Many 
more ancient writers give the same testimony. 
But how came the heathen to pay this respect 
to the seventh day? I have no doubt that 
they learned from Noah, to regard it as sacred, 

George. May they not have been ac- 
quainted with the Jewish sabbath and imi- 
tated the Jews ? 

Mrs. M. I think not, my son. The Jews 
were hated by some nations, and despised by 
others, and no nation would have been very 
likely to imitate them. 

George. Uncle John told me, one day last 
week, that the first account we have that 
men were ever commanded to keep the sab- 
bath, is in the sixteenth chapter of Exodus. 

Mrs. M' If what I have already told you is 
to be relied on, my son, this cannot be true. 
And it seems to me that the sixteenth chap- 
ter of Exodus, helps to prove the sabbath 
was known before the time of Moses. 



38 (JMILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 2. 

Gathering of manna on the sixth day 

Qeorge. How does it help to prove this, 
mother ? 

Mrs. 31. After the manna came, the Israel- 
ites, on the sixth day, gathered twice as much 
of it, as Moses had commanded them to ga- 
ther on the other days. Now, why did they 
do this, if not to provide for the sabbath? 

George. God had informed Moses that 
on the sixth day there should be twice as 
mnch manna gathered as on other days, and 
Moses may have told the people. 

Mrs. M. That cannot be so, I think, for 
then the rulers must have known as well as 
the people, what Moses had said, and they 
would not have gone to tell him what the 
people had done, as if something unexpected 
had happened, which he did not know, and 
which required his immediate attention. I con- 
clude, therefore, that the people without any di- 
rection from Moses, gathered twice as much 
manna on the sixth day, as they had been told 
to gather on the other days. And I do not 
see why they should have done this, of their 



Eve. 2.] SABBATH SET APARt IN PARADISE. 39 

another proof that the seventh day was observed as Sabbath. 

own accord, if they did not know that the 
next day was the sabbath. 

I tiiink, too, the manner in which God 
speaks to Moses, when he told him that he 
would give the Israelites manna to eat, shows 
that Moses was already acquainted with the 
sabbath. God said — And it shall come to 
pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare 
that which they shall bring in ; and it shall be 
twice as much as they gather daily. Now, if 
Moses before this was ignorant of the sab- 
bath, I think he would have been apt to in- 
quire why there would be twice as much 
manna on the sixth day, as on any other day. 
But he seems not to have been at all sur- 
prised, nor to have made any inquiries. The 
reason, I have no doubt, was, he had al- 
ways known that the seventh day was the 
sabbath, and that, on this account, a double 
portion of manna was sent on the sixth 
day. 

The manner in which Moses replied to the 



40 CHILD'^S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 2. 

Moses' manner of mentioning it 

rulers, shows also the sabbath was not known 
then for the first time. '' This is that which 
the Lord hath said, To-morrow is the rest of 
the holy sabbath, unto the Lord your God." 
But if you will look to the chapter you 
will see that the Lord had said nothing 
to Moses about the sabbath. He had only 
told Moses that on the sixth day the people 
must gather twice as much manna as on the 
other days. But Moses at once infers why 
this was commanded. So far as appears, he 
told the people, without God's informing him, 
that it was because the seventh day is the 
holy sabbath. It seems, therefore, that Mo- 
ses knew of the existence of the sabbath, 
before God spake to him, what is recorded in 
the sixteenth chapter of Exodus. 

Suppose your teacher's father was sick, and 
he wished to dismiss the school one week, 
for the sake of visiting him. Do you think 
he would say, at the close of the school, at 
night, ^' To-morrow is the day the vacation 



Eve. 2.] SABBATH SET APART IN PARADISE. 41 

another proof. 

begins for a week." Is this the way he would, 
for the first time, let you know that there 
was to be a vacation I 

George. I think not, mother. I think he 
would say to us, ^^ My father is sick, and I 
wish to visit him — there will be no school for 
a week, it will be vacation." 

Mrs. M. So I think Moses would not have 
said, '' To-morrow is the rest of the holy 
sabbath unto the Lord," if that was the first 
time the Israelites had ever heard of the sab- 
bath. He would have been apt to tell them 
more about the sabbath, how they should 
keep it, and what they should keep it for. 
And he would have said, ^' To-morrow will 
be the rest" not '* To-morrow is the rest.^^ 

Mrs. M. I can mention only one or two 
more reasons, for thinking* that the sabbath 
was observed before the time of Moses. 
Oood men love the sabbath. They may dif- 
fer in many other things, but they all ag^ree 
in this. Now I cannot believe that God de- 
prived Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and 



42 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 2. 

Sabbath, always 

Isaac, and Jacob, of the privilege of the sab- 
bath. These men were the friends of God, 
and the sabbath would have been their de- 
light. If the sabbath had been sanctified to 
commemorate some event which took place 
after their day, or in which they had no in- 
terest, then I could believe that Noah, and 
Abraham, and Jacob, were never permitted 
to enjoy the sabbath. But the reason why 
God set apart the sabbath for his own service, 
is that he rested on the seventh day* This 
reason, as I told you, in our former conversa- 
tion, is no more applicable to one man or to- 
one age, than to another. 

The benefits of the sabbath, too, are need- 
ed by all, in every age. Abraham needed the 
sabbath for rest as much as Moses. Noah 
needed the sabbath for meditation and wor- 
shipping God, as much as David. Our Sa- 
viour says, the sabbath was made for man. 
It is good for men's understandings, for their 
hearts, and for their bodies, to keep the sab- 
bath. I cannot believe, therefore, that God 



Eve. 2] SABBATH SET APART IN PARADISE. 43 

as necessary as now. 

let two thousand five hundred years pass^ be- 
fore he sanctified the sabbath for man. 

Susan. Do you think, mother, that Noah 
kept the sabbath, when he was shut up with 
the beasts and birds and creeping things, in 
the ark. 

Mrs. M. Yes, my dear, I do not doubt 
that Noah had many a happy sabbath while 
the ark was tossing over the flood, and rest- 
ing on the top of Mount Ararat. And I 
suppose Enoch, before he was translated to 
the sabbath of heaven, spent many a sabbath 
on earth, in prayer and praise to God. And 
when Abraham was living on the plains of 
Mamre, before Hebron, I think he rested 
from his labours and cares, on the sabbath. 
And when Jacob was- flying- from his brother 
Esau, and going a long journey into Meso- 
potamia, I think he would stop in some plea- 
sant grove, and there spend the sabbath in 
worship and in meditation. 

Now, my dear children, in my former con- 
versation and in this^ I have said all I in- 



44 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Ev£, 2 

Repetition of reasons. 

tended to say, to show yon that God in- 
stituted the sahbath and set it apart for his 
own service J while Adam and Eve were yet 
in Paradise. Can you repeat to me, George, 
the reasons which I have offered, to show 
thisl 

George. T believe I can remember them all ! 

Mrs. M. If you cannot, I think Charles 
or Susan will be able to help you, for they 
have been very attentive all the evening. 

George. The reasons were — Moses says 
God sanctified the seventh day for the sab- 
bath, as soon as he had finished making the 
world- The division of time into weeks, 
seems to have been known in the days of 
Noah, audit was certainly known in the days 
of Jacob. This division was, probably made 
to mark out the lime botween one sabbath 
and another. The sabbath therefore must 
have existed then. The manner in which 
the sabbath is spoken of in the sixteenth 
chapter of Exodus, and the gathering of 
twice as much manna on the sixth day, as 



Eve. 2.] SABBATH SET APART IN PARADISE. ~ . 4& 
Two reasons more. 

on other days, shows that the sabbath was 
known, before God told the Israelites they 
must be careful to observe it. 

These are all the reasons you gave, are 
they not, mother I 

Charles. I remember two more reasons, 
mother. 

Mrs. M. What are the}', my son ] 

Charles. One was, that good men love to 
keep the sabbath, and you could not believe 
God would deprive Noah, and Abraham, and 
Jacob, of the privilege of keeping it, when 
God^s resting on the seventh day is as good 
a reason why they should rest, as why the 
Jews should rest afterwards. 

Mrs. M. Very well, Charles, — I am glad to 
find that you have understood me, and can 
remember so much of what I have said. 

Charles. But, mother, I remember another 
reason, you said Noah and Abraham needed 
the sabbath for resting, and meditating, and 
worshipping God, as much as Moses and Da- 

4 



46 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 2. 

i Noah kept the Sabbath 

vid needed it — and you could not think that 
when God made the sabbath for all mankind, 
and they all needed it, he would wait two 
thousand five hundred years after he made 
the w^orld, before he gave men the sabbath. 

Mrs. M. Well, Susan, you see iiow much 
your brothers remember of our conversation; 
have you remembered any of itt 

Susan. Yes, motlier, I w^as careful to hear 
every word, and I understood it almost all, I 
think, and I remember some of it. 

Mrs. M. What do you remember, my dear ? 

Susan. I remember you said, you suppose 
Noah kept a good many pleasant sabbaths, 
when the ark was tossing over the waves, 
and that Jacob would stop and keep the sab- 
bath in some pretty grove, when he was fly- 
ing from his wicked brother Esau. 

Mrs. M. I have more to tell you about the 
sabbath, and I shall be encouraged to go on 
with our conversation, you all seem to undi^r- 
$tahd and renaember it 30 welj. 



Eve. 2.] SABBATH SET APART IN PARADISE. 47 

while in the ark on the water. 

But it is now time to stop. — We have talk- 
ed enough for one night. — Pray God to keep 
us through the week, and to let us meet and 
talk of this subject, next sabbath evening. 



48 



EVENING III. 
SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. 

On the next sabbath evening, when they 
had again met around the table, Mrs. Martyn 
said, to-night I mean to show you that God 
designed the sabbath should be observed to 
the end of the world, and by men of all na- 
tions. 

It was chiefly for the sake of proving this, 
that in our two former conversations, I tried 
to show you that the sabbath was instituted 
by God, or set apart by him for his own ser- 
vice, in the garden of Eden. — I need not 
dwell on this argument. If God sanctified 
the sabbath when man was first created, 
doubtless he meant it not for any particular 
nation, but for all mankind. — Susan, you may 
repeat the fourth commandment. 

Susan. Remember the sabbath-day to keep 
it holy. Six days shalt thou labour and do 
all thy work ; but the seventh day is the sab- 



Eve. 3.] SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. 49 

Pharaoh did not allow the Jews a Sabbath. 

bath of the Lord thy God ; in it thou shalt not 
do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daugh- 
ter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, 
nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within 
thy gates ; for in six days the Lord made 
heaven and earth, the sea and all that in 
them is, and rested the seventh day ; where- 
fore the Lord blessed the sabbath-day and 
hallowed it. 

Mrs. M. In this commandment God did 
not establish any thing new. The sabbath 
was given twenty-five hundred years before. 
But the Jews, when in Egypt, were so very 
much oppressed, I do not think that their 
cruel masters would let them rest on the sab- 
bath. I suppose they had to work as hard 
on the seventh day, as on any other day of 
the week, and had almost forgotten the sab- 
bath. But it was very necessary for them, 
as it is for all men, that they should keep the 
fiabbath. So God put the commandment to 
keep the sabbath holy, among the command- 
ments in which he shows what he most wishes 



-50 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. iEve. S. 

The FOURTH commandment 

men should do. You see, therefore, how 
God values the sabbath. 

George. I am sure nothing is said in the 
fourth commandment about the Jews, more 
than about other nations. 

3Irs. 31. I think there is not, my son. 
Wherever men have families, or man-ser- 
vants, or maid-servants, or cattle, or visiters, 
there God commands that the sabbath should 
be kept. If none but Jews have such things 
then we should suppose none but Jews are 
included in the fourth commandment. 

George. Will you tell me, then, mother, 
why Uncle John says that none but Jews are 
bound to keep the fourth commandment 1 

Mrs. M, It is because he supposes that 
the fourth commandment is one of the cere- 
monial laws of the Jews, which were done 
away when our Saviour died. 

George, Was the fourth commandment 
done away then, mother? 

Mrs. M. No, my child. — I have shown you 
that the sabbath was in existence two thou- 



Eve. 3.] SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. 51 

as obligatory as the second, third and fifth. 

sand five hundred years before the Jewish 
ceremonial law was given. It existed before 
that law, and could exist when that law was 
done away. 

George. But Uncle John says the Jews 
punished sabbath-breaking with death, and 
that if we think the fourth commandment 
binding on men now, we must also punish 
with death those who break the sabbath. 

Mrs. M. Can you tell me, George, how the 
Jews punished men who were guilty of wor- 
shipping graven images I 

George. They starved them to death. 

Mrs. M. A.nA how did they punish the 
man who was profane \ 

George. They storied him to death. 

Mrs. M. And how did they punish the 
disobedient chiUi I 

George. They stoned him to death. 

31rs. M. Well, George, do you think 
your Uncle John supposes the second, and 
third, and fifth commandments are parts of 



52 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 3. 

Every commandment to be kept. 

the Jewish ceremonial law, and not binding 
on men at the present day. 

George, O no, mother, he said that all 
the commandments but the fourth were very 
good and ought to be kept by every body. 

Mrs. M. Why did not you tell him that if 
we admit the second, third, and fifth com- 
mandments to be binding on us as well as on 
the Jews, then we ought, on his principle, to 
punish the idolater with death, the profane 
man with death, and the disobedient child with 
death. 

George. I did not think of it, mother. 
But if he says again that the fourth command- 
ment was only for the Jews, and is not bind- 
ing on us, because the Jews punished the 
sabbath-breaker with death, I will tell him 
tbat for the same reason he must reject the 
second, and third, and fifth commandments. 

Mrs. M. God was the civil head of the 
Jewish government. He was king of the 
Jews, in a different sense from that in which 
he is king of other nations. He stood in a 



Eve. 3.] SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. 53 

God once punished sabbath- breaking with death. 

relation to the Jews similar to that in which 
an earthly king stands to the country over 
which he reigns. As civil ruler, or king of 
the Jews, God punished the crime of sabbath- 
breaking with death. He now punishes sab- 
bath-breaking as he pleases, and when he 
pleases, either in this world, or in the next. 
But he also gives to civil rulers the right to 
punish sabbath-breaking as they think proper. 
He does the same in regard to breaches of the 
second, third, and fifth commandments. We 
need not look to see how the Jews punished 
those guilty of breaking these command- 
ments. We are under no obligation to adopt 
their mode of punishment. All the way it 
can interest us, is, by showing that God re- 
gards the violation of the sabbath as a hein- 
ous sin. 

George. Uncle John said that the other 
commandments were moral, but the fourth 
commandment wh.^ positive, and that this is 
one reason why he thought this command- 
ment was meant only for the Jews. What 



54 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 3. 

What MORAL laws are. 

did he mean, mother, when he said that the 
other commandments were moral t 

Mrs. 3L He meant, I suppose, that the 
other commandments grow out of men's re- 
lation to God, and to each other, so that if 
God had not told us to keep them, we should 
know they ought to be kept. 

George, I do not know that I understand 
you, mother. 

Mrs. M\ I will try to explain it. Take 
the third commandment. If God had not for- 
bidden us to speak his name lightly, or dis- 
respectfully, we should know we ougb.t not to 
do it. For he is our Maker and Ruler, and 
then he is so great and good a God, we ought 
never to speak of him without reverence. 

Sotakethefifthcommandment. We should 
know we ought to obey our father and mother, 
even if God harf not corivrnanded us to do it. 
Our parents have done so much for us, and 
suffered so much for us, and we stand in 
such a relation to them, that our consciences 
and hearts tell us, without a commandment, 



EyE. 3.] SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. ^^5 

The fourth commandment is one. 

that tliey deserve our love and obedience. 
This is what I mean when 1 say that moral 
commandments grow out of men's relation to 
God and to each other. 

Geors^e. And what did Uncle John mean 
when he said that the fourth commandment 
is only positive ? 

Mrs, M, I suppose he meant that if God 
had not commanded us to keep the sabbath, 
there is no reason, so far as we^an see, why 
we should be bound to keep it. 

Perhaps, after all, you will understand the 
difference better, between moral and positive 
commandments, if I were to say, that moral 
commandments are those, the reason for 
which we can see, and positive command- 
7nents those the reason for iijhicli we cannot 
see. 

George. Is there no reason, mother, 
which we can see, for keeping the sabbath 1 

Mrs. M. We can see just as much reason 
for keeping the fourth, as for keeping any 
other of the commandments. We can see as 



56 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. Eve. 3.] 

Difference between ceremonial and 

as plainly that rest on one day in seven, is 
necessary to preserve the body in health, and 
the mind and heart in a proper state, as we 
can see the reason of the duties required in 
any of the commandments. I intend to prove 
this to you, before we finish our conversa- 
tions. But I must not turn aside, further^ to 
do it to night. 

Charles. What is the difference between 
the ceremonial and moral laws ? 

Mrs. M. One difference is, that the cere- 
monial laws were designed only for the Jews, 
while the moral laws are equally binding on 
every body. The moral laws were engraven 
on tables of stone by God himself — while the 
ceremonial laws were taken down from God's 
mouth, and recorded by Moses. 

Charles. Among which of these laws, was 
the fourth commandment placed \ 

Mrs. M. God engraved it himself on one 
of the tables of stone, among the moral laws — 
or what are called the ten commandments. 
I Charles. If men had engraven what was 



Eve. 3.] ' SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. ^ 57 

moral laws^ 

on the two tables of stone, they might have 
made a mistake, and put the fourth com- 
mandment in the wrong place. Or if it had 
been printed in a book, and bound up with 
other laws, the printer, or the bookbinder 
might have made a mistake, too. But I do 
not think God could make a mistake. 

Mrs. M. No, my child, it is impossible for 
God to mistake. 

George. And you know too, mother, that 
when Moses had broken the two tables of 
stone, on which God had engraven the ten 
commandments, God gave Moses two more 
tables, and the fourth commandment was en- 
graven on one of those tables, just as it had 
been on one of the others. And, then, these 
two tables of stone were laid up in the ark, 
while the other laws which were written by 
Moses, were only placed in the sanctuary. 

Charles. Were there any other laws en- 
graven on the two tables, except the fourth 
commandmeat, which any body supposes 



5§ ' CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 3. 

All but Infidels believe in the Sabbath. 

ought to have been placed among the cere- 
monial laws 1 

3It§. M. None, my child. All that be- 
lieve the Bible, think the rest of the laws are 
put in the right place, and ought to be kept 
by every body, as well as by the Jews. 

Charles, I believe the fourth command- 
ment was placed where it; ought to be^ 
mother. 

Mrs. M. If I w^ere to make some rules 
for you to keep, only while you were reco- 
vering from a fit of sickness, and \vithout tell- 
ing you, should place one of them among 
other rules which I made for you to keep 
as long as you live, would you not think it 
very strange 1 

George. It would be very strange, mother, 
but then it would be possible for you to put 
it there, by mistake. 

Mrs. M. Yes, my son, I might do so. 
But suppose I had placed it there on pur- 
pose, w^ould you not think that I was not 



Eve. 3.] SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. 59 

Decalogue given by God. 

SO careful as I oug*ht to be to keep you from 
error I 

George. I should not know what to think^^ 
mother. 

Mrs. M. If I were very sick, and thought 
I should soon die, I should call you around 
my bed, to bid you farewell, and to give you 
my last counsels. There would be a great 
many things which I should wish to say to 
you, I could not tell you a thousandth part of 
ihem. I should have strength to mention 
only a few. Now^, if when I was so feeble that 
I could only just speak. I should say, there 
are ten things which I wish you to do, and 
should ask one of you to take a pen, and 
sit by my bed, and write these ten things 
down, would you not think I wished to have 
you do them more than any thing else \ 

Stisan. I should mother, and I would ne- 
ver forget them. 

George. All of us would think so, mother. 

Mrs. M. Now, my children, Gi)d once 



60 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 3. 

First to the Israelites. 

came down from heaven, on purpose to tell 
the Israelites ten things v^hich he wished to 
have them do. He had informed Moses that 
on the third day, he would descend in the sight 
of all the people, upon Mount Sinai. The 
Israelites were three days in preparing to 
meet God. On the third morning, there 
were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick 
cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the 
trumpet, exceeding loud, so that all the peo- 
ple in the camp trembled. The smoke of 
Mount Sinai ascended like the smoke of a 
furnace, and the whole mountain shook as if 
rocked by an earthquake. And so terrible 
was the sight, that even Moses said, 1 ex- 
ceedingly fear and quake. The Lord appear- 
ed upon the top of Sinai, and in the midst 
of the clouds and thunders and lightnings, 
spake to the whole host of Israel, who were 
around the foot of the Mount. The words 
which God spake, are recorded in the twen- 
tieth chapter of Exodus. They are the ten 
commandments. The people heard the fourth 



Eve. 3.] SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. 61 

What ceremonial laws are. 

commandment as distinctly as they heard 
any of the rest, 

Wh^n God had given the ten command- 
ments, he ceased to speak. He called Moses 
up into the mount, and then gave to him 
the laws which were designed only for 
the JewSy which are called, ceremonial 
laws. 

Now, can we suppose that the sabbath, 
which was given the fourth in order of these 
ten things, which God came down on Mount 
Sinai himself to tell the Israelites, was meant 
only for the Jews, when all the rest were 
meant for the whole world ? — By what au- 
thority shall we separate what God hath 
joined together ] 

There never was a more solemn and ter- 
rific scene, than that in which God gave the 
fourth commandment. Fire, darkness, light- 
nings, thunderings, aloud and terrible voice 
of a trumpet, all show how God regards the 
sabbath, and hoA^ dangerous it must be to re- 
ject or to break the fourth commandment. It 

5 



62 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 3, 

Awful sacredness of the sabbath. 

would be 110 more a violation of God's holy 
law, to bow down and worship a Hindoo idol, 
or to take your Maker's name in vain — or to 
disobey and abuse your parents— or to kill 
one of your playmates-r-or to steal— or to 
lie— than it is to profane the sabbath. The 
other commandments were given by the same 
authority as the fourth — were spoken amidst 
the same darkness, and Hghtnings and thun- 
ders — and were engraven by God on the same 
tables. 

Remember this, my dear children, when- 
ever you are tempted to break the sabbath-r-- 
If your companions urge you to play with 
them, or to do any other wrong thing on the 
sabbath think how God spoke from the top of 
Sinai and said, — Remember the sabbath-day 
to keep it holy. 

The sabbath is a memorial, or sign, that 
God made the world. And if God made the 
world, then, doubtless, he watches over it, 
and rules it. He made us, and rules us, and 
matches over us. We are bound to serve 



Eve. 3.] SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. 63 

Relative importance to the other commandments. 

and worship him. We are under obligations 
to please him, and to obey all his command- 
ments. He must be glorious and powerful, 
wise and good. Every sabbath was fitted to 
remind men of these truths and to impress 
them on their hearts. Can we believe, then, 
that this memorial was meant only for the 
Jews '? 

The fourth commandment occupies a pe- 
culiar ^/ace among the commandments. The 
first three, tell us of our duties to God ar»d 
the last six, of our duties to our fellow men. 
The sabbath stands between these two sets 
of commandments, and binds them together. 
Without it, neither piety to God, nor love to 
men, would long exist. An old writer re- 
marks, ^'The fourth commandment is put into 
the bosom of the decalogue, that it might not 
be lost — it is the golden clasp which joins the 
two tables together." 

I will mention only one more reason this 
evening, why I think the sabbath was not a 
part of the Jewish ceremonial law, but was 



64 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 3. 

Fourth commandment as precious to 

designed for all mankind. The Holy Spirit 
writes the moral law on the hearts and con- 
sciences of God's people. This is what God 
promised. I will put my laws in their minds, 
and write them in their hearts. They love 
God's law. But it is a fact, that good men 
love the fourth commandment, as well as 
either of the ten. The sabbath is a precious 
day to their souls. The more they become 
like the Saviour, the more they love the 
sabbath. The fourth commandment is en- 
graven on the fleshly table of their hearts, as 
plainly as it was engraven by the finger of 
God, on the tables of stone. Now, it would 
be very strange that the Holy Spirit should 
always engrave the fourth commandment on 
the hearts of Christians, as deeply as either 
of the other commandments, if it ceased to 
be a law, and became a dead letter^ eighteen 
hundred years ago. 

Mrs. M. Before we close our conversation, 
this evening, let me see, George, whether you 
remember what reasons I have given this 



Eve. 3.] SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. 65 

Christians as the others. 

evening, for thinking that God designed the 
sabbath to be observed to the end of the 
world, and by men of all nations. 

George. You told us, mother, that if the 
sabbath was sanctified at the close of the 
work of creation, it must be meant for the 
whole world, as much as for the Jews. You 
said that if it had been meant only for the 
Jews, it would not have been engraven on 
the two tables of stone, with the other nine 
commandments which ev^ery body ought to 
keep ; and that God would not have spoken 
it, with the nine other commandments on 
Mount Sinai. 

You said that the fourth commandment is 
placed between the three commandments 
which teach our duties to God, and the six 
which teach our duties to men, to bind them 
together ; and that .without the fourth com- 
mandmert, the other nine would not be of 
much use. You said, too, that when the 
Holy Spirit writes God's law on the hearts 
of Christians, he writes the fourth command- 



66 CHILD^S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 3. 

Recapitulation of arguments. 

merit as plainly as either of the ten ; anri 
that this is strange, if the fourth command 
ment ceased to be binding on men, eighteer^ 
hundred years ago. 



67 



EVENING IV. 

SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. 

Mother, said Charles, as soon as they 
were seated, as usual, around the table the 
next sabbath evening, Thomas Bradish 
wanted to have me go out into the woods 
with him, to-day^ after we got through sab- 
bath school, and pick up some chesnuts. 

Mrs. M. What did you tell him ^ 

Charles. I told him that it was wicked, 
mother. 

Mrs. M. And what did Thomas Bradish 
say to that ? 

Charles. He said that nobody would 
know it, if it was wicked. But I told him 
God would see us, and be very angry with us, 
and I would not go with him. 

Mrs. M. And what did Thomas say then ? 

Charles. He said that I was frightened by 
what my mother told me about the sabbath. 
He said his mother never talked to him about 



68 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 4 



Thomas Bradisb, a wicked boy, 



keeping- the sabbalh, and if she did he would 
not be so foolish as to mind her. 

Mrs. M. Thomas Bradish is a very wick- 
ed boy to talk so, and I fear he will come to 
no good end. But did Thomas go into the 
woods after chesnuts ? 

Charles, Yes, mother, T saw him and 
another boy, going across the fields, toward 
the mountain, just as the bell began to ring 
for meeting. 

Mrs. M. Do you think, Charles, that Tho- 
swas Bradish and the other boy, would have 
dared to go to Mount Sinai, and climb up 
into the trees after chesnuts, if there had been 
any there, when the dark clouds were all 
around the top of the mountain, and the light- 
ninofs were flashin^r thick, and the thunder 
roaring very loud, and God was commanding 
the people to remember the sabbath-day to 
keep it holyt 

Charles. No, mother, he would have been 
terrified, as the Israelites were, and wanted 
to fly as far from the mountain as be could. 



Eve. 4.] SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. 69 

violated the sabbath, 

Mrs. M. But, Charles, God was as near, 
when Thomas Bradish went to get ehesnuts 
on the mountain, today, as he was to the 
people of Israel when he came down on 
Mount Sinai, and gave the fourth command- 
ment. And though it did not thunder and 
lighten, and though Thomas Bradish did 
not hear any voice from the top of the moun- 
tain, telling him to rememb^jr the sabbath- 
day to keep it holy, God was just as angry 
as he would have been, if 1 homas Bradish 
had gone to Mount Sir]ai to look for fruit, on 
the next sabbath after God gave the ten 
commandments to Israel. 

Here Mrs. M. was called to the door, when 
she returned she said, 

You ought to be very thankful, Charles, 
that you did not go with Thomas Bradish 
and break the sabbath to-day. He fell down 
from a tree this afternoon and was almost 
killed. 

Charles. Did he, mother I 

Mrs. 31. I ha/e just heard so. One of hk 



70 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 4. 

And meets with an accident. 

neighbours has come, in haste, to get your 
father to go and dress his wounds. The man 
said, that Thomas and the other boy wander- 
ed over the mountain till almost night, with- 
out finding many chesnuts. There had not 
been frost enough to open the burs. At last 
they came to a high tree which was loaded with 
chesnuts. They tried to beat them off with 
clubs and long poles, but they could not get 
many in that way. So Thomas said he would 
climb up into the tree, and shake some ojfF. 
The other boy told him he had better not, 
for the branches were slender and would ea- 
sily break. But Thomas said he would not 
come so far and look so long and go home 
without any chesnuts in his pockets. So he 
climbed up into the tree and began to shake. 
He went out too far on one of the limbs, and 
it broke. Thomas caught hold of another 
limb, but that broke too, and he fell to the 
ground. He was hurt very badly, and if he 
escapes with his life, he must be very thank- 
ful. 



Eve. 4.] SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. 71 

Many accidents on the sabbath. 

Susan. I am glad that our mother tells us 
to keep the sabbath, are not you, Charles ? 

Mrs. M. Children are very apt to think 
their parents make them keep the sabbath 
too strictly. But Thomas Bradish will wish, 
to-night, that his mother had taught him to 
observe the sabbath better. Poor boy ! I 
hope he will learn from this accident, to *' re- 
member the sabbath day to keep it holy ;" 
and I hope, too, that his mother will learn to 
be more faithful in giving good advice to her 
children. 

Charles. Are there not more people wound- 
ed and killed on the sabbath, than on any 
other day. 

Mrs. M. A great many accidents happen 
on the sabbath. I see some mentioned in the 
newspapers almost every week. I think 
there are more, in proportion to the number 
of people employed in labour, and in amuse- 
ments, and on excursions of pleasure, than 
on other days. 

There is something striking in the many 



72 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 4 

Special judgments 

accidents that happen on the sabbath. It 
wouhi be dreadful to be taken out of the 
world, while violating one of the command- 
ments of God. 

George. But, mother, Uncle John says, 
that the accidents which happen on the sab- 
bath, would happen, in the same circum- 
stances, on any other day. He says, acci- 
dents are no proof that God is angry with 
those who break the fourth commandment, 
or that it is still binding. 

Mrs. M. I know my son, that this is not 
a world in which God rewards men, fully, 
according to what they do ; and that we 
ou<Tht to be cauiious how we think God is 
more angry with men who meet witli acci- 
dents and misfortunes, than he is with others. 
But the Bible tells us that God, in former 
days, sometimes cut down men suddenly? 
when they were guilty of great sins. When 
God did so, he was srid to punish men by 
special judgments. When we see similar 
thing's happening now, we cannot tell that he 



Eve. 4.J SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. 73 

now as formerly. 

does not punish men, in the same way. The 
best people in the world have thought that 
God sometimes punishes, now, by special 
judgments, those who are very bold and dar- 
ing in sin. When, for example, a profane 
person dies, instantly, with an oath on his 
tongue, they think that if the reason of his 
sudden death was given, as the reason for 
the death of some wicked men is given in the 
Bible, it would appear that God cut him down, 
by a special judgment, for his profaneness. 

Your Uncle John says that the same acci- 
dents wouhl happen in similar circumstances, 
on any other day, as well as on the sabbath. 
I have no doubt that they sometimes would. 
For example, a party of thoughtless young 
men and women, take a sail boat, and go out 
into some bay, or on to some lake, for plea- 
sure, on the sabbath. They do not know 
how to manage the boat. They are not used 
to trimming the sails, and turning the rudder 
about. They cannot guide the boat, as old 
sailors would. A light gale springs up, and 



74 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 4. 

In this world men punished differently for sins. 

they know not what to do. They g-et fright- 
ened, perhaps, and through their mismanage- 
ment, the boat upsets and they are drowned. 

I suppose the same things would happen, 
sometimes, on any other day of the week, as 
well as on the sabbath. But does this show 
that they were not drowned as a punish- 
ment for their sabbath-breaking ? If you eat 
too much, you will suffer for it. The glutton 
may have the gout, or some other disease, 
in consequence of high living. But this is a 
punishment. God works no miracle in pu- 
nishing the glutton. The gout comes in the 
natural course of things ; but it is none the 
less a punishment, and none the easier to 
bear, for that. 

So we might say of the sailing party, even 
if they were not drowned by a special judg- 
ment, but in the common course of things. 
Suppose the gale might spring up on Mon- 
day. And suppose, that not knowing any 
better how to manage the boat, on Monday, 
than on the sabbath, they were drowned. 



Eve. 4] SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. 75 

If any escape here, will be punished hereafter. 

Would the drowning be any easier for coming 
in the natural order of things ? Would it be 
any the less a punishment! 

If the glutton had let high living alone, 
he would not have had the gout ; and if the 
sailing party had kept the sabbath as they 
ought, they would not have been drowned. 

And do not think, my children, because 
you may break the sabbath, once or twice, 
or even several times, and not be punislied^ 
that God will never punish you. You will 
certainly be punished at last, and may be 
punished, yet, in this world, I suppose that 
all the sailing party had often been guilty of 
breaking the sabbath, before the day on which 
they were drowned. But they did not hear 
any thunder, or see any lightning, to show 
that God was angry with them for profaning 
his holy day, and they thought he never would 
punish them. So they grew bolder and bold- 
er, and more and more hardened, until they 
thought they would make a sailing party on 
the sabbath. They did so, and were drown- 



76 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 4. 

Sabbath a sign of the covenant to the Israelites. 

ed. But if tliCy had minded what their pa- 
rents, or sabbath school teachers told them 
when they broke the sabbath at first, by going 
with wicked boys and girls to play, they would 
not have gone on this party. So you see they 
were punished, at last, for what they did long- 
before. 

Mrs. M. But I have a few things more to 
say to you about the fourth commandment. 
There are two more objections, George;, that 
your Uncle John makes, which I promised 
you, last week, I would answer to-night, as I 
w^as too busy to answer them then. You may 
mention them. 

George. Uncle John said that the sabbath 
was not known before the lime of Moses ; for 
the Bible declares that God gave it to the chil- 
dren of Israel, as a sign of the covenant he 
had made ivith than 1 

Mrs. 31. The Bible does say so several 
times, but I tiiink this does not show tha^ 
the sabbath had never been known before 
the Israelites came out of Egypt, or that it 



Eve. 4.] SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. 77 

River Nile in Egypt. 

was not meant for others besides the Jews, 
Do you thiiik, George, that there never was any 
rain on the earth for sixteen hundred and 
fifty years before the flood. 

George. I have no doubt there was ; for 
if there had been no rain, there would have 
been no water to drink, and the fields would 
have been parched and dried up. 

Charles, But you told us mother, one 
evening, that there is not rain very often, 
in some parts of Egypt. But Egypt is a very 
fertile country '? 

Mrs. M. Do not the fields in Egypt need 
any water 1 

Charles. O yes, mother, the fields need 
water, but they get water for them out of the 
Nile] 

Mrs. M. And where does the Nile get 
water. 

Charles. I do not know — I have not 
thought of that. 

Mrs. M. The water of the Nile comes 
from heavy rains among the mountains in 

6 



'3t8 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 4. 

A rainbow before the flood. 

Abyssinia, where the Nile, which is a very 
Jong river, rises. But I think if there should 
be no rain for a few years^ in Abyssinia, 
there would not be much water in the Nile, 
for the fields, or for the cattle, or for man. 

Charles, There must have been rain, 
there, mother, before the flood ; but I won- 
der what rain before the flood has to do with 
the fourth commandment. 

Mrs. M. You must not be too impatient, 
Charles, if you wish to learn. I shall show 
you, very soon, why I asked George whether 
there was any rain before the flood. 

Can you tell me, George, what makes the 
rainbow ? 

George. The rays of the sun refracted 
from the drops of rain in a cloud. 

Mrs. M. Then there must have been 
rainbows before the flood. 

George, Yes, mother, a great many times. 

Susan. How beautiful Adam and Eve 
must have thought the rainbow, when they 
fir^t saw it painted on the dark cloud 1 



Eve. 4.1 SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. 79 

Also a sign of God's covenant with Noah. 

3Irs, M. When Noah had come out of the 
arkj God said to him, ^' I will establish my co- 
venant with you ; and this is the token of 
the covenant which I make between me and 
you — I do set my bow in the clouds, and it 
shall be for a token of a covenant between 
me and the earth." Now, by a token, here, 
God means the same thing that he means 
by a sign, of his covenant with Israel. 

Charlies. O mother, now I begin to see 
why you asked George about the rain be- 
fore the flood. 

Mrs. M, As the rainbovv^, which was almost 
as old as the world, was set in the cloud for 
a sign of God's covenant with Noah, so the 
sabbath, which had been two thousand five 
hundred years in existence, was given as a 
sign of God's covenant with the Israelites* 

Now, George, you may mention the other 
objection made by your Uncle John. 

George. He said, that the fourth com- 
mandment has expired of itself, or else has 
been repealed; for Paul told the Colossiaiis^. 



80 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 4. 

Another objection answered 

that the sabbath-days are ^' a shadow of things 
to come," and reproved the Galatians because 
they observed days, and months, and times^ 
and years. 

Mrs. M, If a law is limited to some par- 
ticular time, when that time arrives, it is a 
law no longer, and is said to expire by its own 
limitation. For example, if congress, for 
some reason, should think fit to make a law 
that no vessel should sail from any port in 
the United States, for sixty days — when 
the sixty days ended, the law would cease to 
be binding. It might be said to die or to 
expire, and vessels might sail without 
leave from congress. There would be 
no law against it. It would be as lawful 
for them to sail, as though a law forbidding 
them to sail for sixty days, had never been 
made. 

But congress might make a law that ves- 
sels should not sail from any port in the 
United States, without saying how long the 
law should last. If such a law was made, 



Eve. 4.] SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. 81 



from practice of Legislatures. 



it would be bindini^ until Congress should 
repeal it, or say it was a law no longer. 

Now it is not said, in the fourth com- 
mandment, how long it should be binding. — 
It is not said that it should be a law for a 
thousand years, or two thousand years, or un- 
til the 3Iessiah came. 

It would, therefore, never cease to be a law 
until repealed by the same authority that 
made it. It would never expire by its own 
limitation. 

Well then, has God repealed the fourth 
commandment 1 — Has he said it shall not be 
a law any longer ? Your Uncle John and 
others who think as he does, quote several 
passages from Paul's Epistles, to ^how that 
the fourth commandment has been repealed, 
I need not examine every one of them, for 
what I shall say on one of the passages, will 
apply to the others. 

I will take what Paul says in Colossians ii. 

16, 17. — "Let no man, therefore, judge you 

m meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy 



82 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH, [Eve. 4. 



Jews' Sabbath permitted 



day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath- 
days, which are a shadow of things to come ; 
but the body is Christ." 

George. I did not know, mother, that Paul 
wrote so about the sabbath. 

Mrs. M. The Jewish feasts are often 
called sabbaths, in the Old Testament, and 
some suppose Paul, in this passage, meant 
these feasts, and not the weekly sabbath* 
But 1 do not think this very probable. 

The Jews who early became Christians^ 
were very fond of their old customs and 
modes of worship. They were particularly 
fond of the sabbath. The Gentiles who be- 
came Christians, kept the first day of the 
week, as the day of rest. This, at that time, 
was called the '^ Lord^s-day^''^ to distingaish 
it from the Jewish Sabbath, The Jews, too, 
kept the Lord's day : but some of them, alsoj 
kept the seventh day, which was their former 
sabbath. Those Jews who kept both days^ 
wanted that the Gentiles should do the same 
When they lived in the same neighbourhoods 



Eve. 4.1 SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. 83 



but not encouraged. 



and belonged to the same church with Gen- 
tiles, I have no doubt they sometimes talked 
about them harshly, for not resting on both 
days. Paul did not believe the Gentiles v^ere 
under obligation to keep the seventh day, or 
Jewish sabbath. He was willing that the 
Gentiles should observe it, as well as the 
Christian sabbath, or Lord's day, if they 
chose to keep both. But he would not let 
the Jews compel them to keep the seventh 
day. He would have every man do as he 
pleased in regard to keeping it. This was 
the reason why he said to the Colossians, 
Let no man judge you in meat, or in drink, 
or in respect of a holy day; or of the new 
moon, or of the sabbath-days. 

Paul knew that the Jewish temple and na- 
tion would soon be destroyed, and that then 
the Jewish ceremonies and institutions would 
speedily be forgotten. For the sake of peace, 
therefore, he let the Jews keep the seventh 
day, their former sabbath ; but, then, they 
must also keep the Lord's day 1 



84 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 4. 



The Christian Sabbath never repealed. 



It was not the day of rest, which Paul says 
was '^ a shadow of thing's to come." It was 
only the Jewish Sabbath. The christian sab- 
bath, which was already kept on the first day 
of the week, w^as not repealed ; but it remains 
and will remain, as in the time of Paul, till 
days and weeks are known no more. 

This is a very interesting part of our sub- 
ject, my children, and as we can spend a 
little time longer in conversation this eve- 
ning, I will mention one or two more reasons 
why I think Paul did not mean to repeal the 
sabbath. 

The Apostles contended again^st the cere°^ 
monial law of the Jews, and said that it was 
never designed for the Gentiles. They 
preached against it, and wrote against it, as 
much as was necessary and proper, in their 
circumstances. They said that Christ had 
blotted it out, that it was icaxing old, and 
ready to vanish aiimy. 

Now, my dear children, look at what has 
happened, and see if it corresponds witti 



Eve. 4.] SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. 85 

The fourth commandment not one of the ceremonial laws. 

what the Apostles said should come to pass. 
The rites of the ceremonial law, the many 
washings, the division of meats into clean 
and unclean, all vanished away long since 
from the Christian church — Christ has blotted 
them out. This is just what Paul said would 
happen. But has the sabbath vanished 
away ? Far from it. Paul kept it himself, 
and taught others to keep it^ by his example. 
The other x\postles kept it, and the earliest 
saints and martyrs kept it. It has been kept 
from that day to this, and the fourth com- 
mandment seems no more likely to vanish 
away from the church of Christ, than any 
other commandment of the ten. I should 
not know why this is so, if I believed, with 
your Uncle John, that the fourth command- 
ment was repealed as long ago as the days 
of Paul. I think it is very evident that the 
sabbath, which has fared so differently from 
the ceremonial law, was no part of this law. 
I think that the sabbath, which has so long 
outlived what the Apostle calls the hand- 



86 ' CHILI>'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 4* 

The Sabbath a subject of prophecy. 



writing of ordinances ; is no part of these 
ordinances. I am, therefore, fully satisfied 
that your Uncle John gives a wrong meaning 
to the words of Paul. 

George, The Prophets foretold many 
things which would happen in the church 
of Christ. Do they ever foretell, Mother, 
that there would be any sabbath kept 
then t 

Mrs. M. Ye^, my son, Isaiah, in the fifty- 
sixth chapter of his prophecy says, there would 
be a sabbath among the Gentiles, who would 
be converted to God. The chapter is a short 
and beautiful one, and I hope all of you will 
read it, to-night, before you retire to rest. 
Certain persons were prohibited, by the ce- 
remonial law, from coming into the congre- 
gation of the Lord. Of these, God says 
that if they will keep his sabbaths, '^Even 
unto them, will I give in my house, and 
within my walls, a place and a name better 
than of sons and of daughters." This shows 
that the sabbath would outlive the ceremo- 



Eve. 4.] SABBATH BINDING ON ALL. 87 



A great blessing to the church now. 



nial law, and be blessed by God in the Chris- 
tian church. 

And why should not the sabbath exist in 
the Christian, as well as in the Jewish, church'? 
I have told you, already, that men need it, in 
every age and in every country. And would 
God take away from his church so great a 
blessing, which it had long enjoyed l 

And the sabbath is not only as much 
needed in the Christian church, as it was in 
the Jewish, but it can be made even more 
useful now, than it was at that time. The Jews 
did not have so many means of making the 
sabbath profitable, as God has given to the 
Christian church, God has revealed his will 
more clearly to us, than he revealed it to 
them. They lived in the twilight. We live 
in the full light of noonday. The Holy 
Spirit is now shed forth more abundantly on 
men, than before the death of our Saviour, 
and greater numbers are converted to 
Christ, by the preaching of the Gospel. But 
men must assemble together, or there can be 



88 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 4. 



The moral sun of our planet. 



no public preaching, and they would not as- 
semble, if there was no sabbath. To the 
Jew, the sabbath was the brightest among 
many stars ; to the Christian, it is the sun in 
the firmament, shining in all his g^lory. 



89 



EVENING V. 

CHANGE OF THE SABBATH. 

George. You told us, mother, in our for- 
mer conversations, that the fourth coiiimand- 
ment was meant for all other nations, as well 
as for the Jews. 

Mrs. M. Yes, my son. 

George. And you told us that it had ne- 
ver been repealed, and so must be binding 
now. 

Mrs. M. Yes, I told you that, too. 

George. Well, then, mother, why do not 
g*ood people keep the fourth commandment t 

Mrs. M. Do not good people keep it, my 
son t 

George. No, mother, I do not see that 
they do. The fourth commandment says, 
^' The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord 
thy God." But we keep the first day of the 
week as the sabbath, and we work on the 



90 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 5. 

Why the seventh day of the week 

seventh day, in which God says, " Thou shalt 
not do any work." Is not this to break the 
fourth commandment'! 

Mrs, M. This is tvhat i€e will converse 
about this evening, I will try to show you 
why tee keep the first day of the week^ as the 
sabbath, and not the seventh day^ and that 
this is no breach of the fourth command- 
ment. 

Time has been divided into three periods. 
The first of these three periods, is called 
the Patriarchal, and extends from the cre- 
ation to Moses. The second, is called the 
Mosaical, or Jewish, and extends from Moses 
to Christ. The third is called the Christian, 
and extends from the time of our Saviour 
to the end of the world. 

During the first and second of these pe- 
riods, the sabbath was a sign or memorial 
to make men keep in mind some great event. 
During the first or Patriarchal period, it 
was a sign of God's resting on the seventh 
day, after he had created the world. The 



Eve. 5.] CHANGE OF THE SABBATH; 9^t 



was observed as the Sabbath. 



sabbath began on the day in which God 
rested, and came every seventh day. 

During the second, the Mosaical or Jewish 
period, beside being a sign of God's rest- 
ing from the work of creation, it was also 
a sign of the release of the Jews from their 
bondage in Egypt. 

God says to the Jews, (Deuteronomy v. 
15.) ^' And remember that thon wast a ser- 
vant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord 
thy God brought thee out thence, through 
a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm; 
therefore, the Lord thy God commanded 
thee to keep the sabbath-day." Learned 
men say, it is highly probable that the ex- 
act reckoning of time> from the creation, 
was lost by the Israelites, during their heavy 
bondage, and that they began to reckon their 
sabbaths from the day when they came out 
of Egypt, During the third, or the Chris- 
tian period, it is natural, therefore, to ex- 
pect the sabbath would be a memorial of 



92 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 5. 

Why the first day is now observed. 

some great event, and would, as in the two 
former cases, be reckoned from the day in 
which that event happened : — ^Such an event 
is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ 
from the dead. If the creation of the world 
was worthy to be kept in mind by a memorial 
like the sabbath, the redemption of the world 
by Jesus Christ, is equally worthy. Indeed 
the bible represents it as more worthy. — 
^' Behold I create new heavens, and a new 
earth ; and the former heavens shall not be 
remembered nor come to mind." The pro- 
phet in this passage seems to mean, that the 
work of redeeming the world from sin, is 
more glorious than the first creation ; and 
should be commemorated in its stead, by the 
same sign. This sign is the sabbath. From 
what the prophet says, then, as well as from 
what was done during the two former periods, 
we are led, I think, to expect a change in the 
day of keeping the sabbath, 

George. Has the day, then, been changed I 



Eve. 5.] CHANGE DF THE SABBATH. Q$ 

Reason for the observance of the firot day of the week. 

Mrs. M. I think there is evidence enough 
that it has. 

Our Saviour appeared to his disciples, soon 
after he arose from the dead, on the first day 
of the week. The first day of the next week 
he appeared to them, again, as they were as- 
sembled, and probably for worship. 

The day of Pentecost was on the first day 
of the week, when the promise of Christ to 
send the Holy Spirit to \\\^ disciples, was ful- 
filled. The first day of the week was kept 
as the sabbath in the time of the apostles. 
Paul, at Troas, met with the church when 
they came together, on the first day of the 
week, to break bread. He tells the Corin- 
thians to lay by them in store, for the poor 
saints, on the first day of the week, as God 
had prospered them. He gave the same or- 
der to the churches in Galatia. The Apos- 
tle John speaks of one day of the week as 
familiarly known, when he wrote, by the 
name of the Lord's day. '' I was," says he^ 
'' in the Spirit on the Lord's day." That this 

7 



94 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 5. 

No direct command — but 

was the first day of the week, I have no 
doubt ; and that it was so called on account 
of the resurrection of Christ, from the dead, 
on that day. 

George. But, mother, you have not men- 
tioned any command of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, or of his Apostles, to change the se- 
venth day for the first. Why was there not a 
direct command to make the change, if God 
meant it should be made ? 

Mr8* M., It is true that I have not men- 
tioned any direct command for this change — 
Nor is there any in the Bible. But, my son, 
we may know w^iat the will of God is, withr 
out a direct command ; and when we know 
it, however we may get our know^ledge, we 
are bound to obey it. The Apostles were 
inspired by God, to instruct his people in 
their duty, and do you suppose they would 
have changed the day of keeping the sabbath^ 
or suffered the churches to change the day^ 
if^God had not shown them that it was his 
will to have the change take place J 



Eve. 5.] CHANGE OF THE SABBATH. 95 



God's will can be as certainly known. 



George. No, mother, I think they would 
never have done that. 

Mrs. 31. The example of the Apostles^ 
in such a case, is as binding on us, as a com- 
mand wouhi be — for it shows as clearly 
what the will of God is. 

George. But, mother, it would have been 
so easy to record a command in the Bible, 
that 1 wonder it was omitted. Then there 
would be no disputes in the world, about what 
day men ought to keep as the sabbath. 

Mrs. M. Men will never bo in want of 
something to dispute about, so long as they 
dislike the truth. God knows best how much 
ought to be recorded in the Bible, and though 
many persons wonder why God did not have 
more said in the Bible, on some points, I 
have no doubt that the Bible is better as it is 
now, than men could make it. 

George. But, mother, do you know of any 
reason why there was no direct command 
given by the Apostles, for changing the sab- 



96 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 5. 

. Why the Sabbath was not changed suddenly. 

bath from tlie seventh to the first day of the 
week "i 

Mrs. M. One reason was, the peculiar 
state of the church, at that time. The Jews 
were very fond, as I have told you, already, 
of their customs, and of none more than of 
the sabbath. If the change from the seventh 
to the first day had been made suddenly, and 
by express command, the Jews would have 
been much offended. They would have had 
strong prejudices against the Gospel ; and 
might for this very reason, have rejected it. 
The Apostles knew that in a little time, all 
these Jewish customs would be swept away ; 
and as there was nothing positively wrong, in 
keeping the seventh day, they suffered the 
Jews to keep that, together with the first. 
Just so, they suffered the Jews to keep the 
passover, as well as to celebrate the Lord's 
Supper. But when the temple was left with- 
out one stone upon another, the Jewish priest- 
hood, and altars, and sacrifices, and sabbaths^ 



Eve. 5.] CHANGE OF THE SABBATH. 97 

The first day was observed by the early Christians. 



all disappeared. The Lord's day took the 
place of the Jewish sabbath ; and the first 
day took the place of the seventh day, as a 
day of rest. 

George. Do early writers give any account 
of this change "! I should think that if there 
was such a change as you have told us of to- 
night, they would mention it. 

Mrs. M, They do mention it, my son. — 
Ignatius, about the year of our Lord 101, 
calls the first day of the week "the Lord's 
day, the day consecrated to the resurrection, 
the queen and prince of all days !" He says 
too, ''Let every friend of Christ celebrate the 
Lord's day.'^'^ Pliny, the younger, in a letter 
to the Emperor Trajan, in the year of our 
Lord 107, says, that the Christians were ac- 
customed, '^ on a stated day, to meet before 
day-light, and to repeat among themselves a 
hymn to Christ as to a God." The Roman 
persecutors were accustomed to put this 
question to the martyrs, " Have you kept the 
Lord's day ?" showing that the early Chris- 



9B CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 5. 

More proof of it. 



tians did so. In the year of our Lord 147. 
Justin Martyr, in an Apology addressed to 
the Fmperor Antoninus, in which he would 
be careful to state nothing but what was true, 
^ays, ^' On the day called Sunday, there is a 
meeting in one place, of all the Christians 
who live either in towns, or in the country. 
Every one of us Christians keeps the sabbath 
meditating in the law, and rejoicing in the 
works of God." Eusebius, the great writer 
of Church History, in ancient times, says, about 
the year of our Lord 320. " On each day of 
our Saviour's resurrection, that is, on every 
first day of the week, which is called Lord's 
day, we may see those who partake of the 
consecrated food, and that body (of Christ) 
bowing down to him." He says also, that 
" all things whatsoever it was duty to do on 
the sabbath'^ that is, the Jewish seventh day, 

THESE WE HAVE TRANSFERRED TO THE LoRD's 
DAY AS MORE APPROPRIATELY BELONGING TO IT. 

He says, also, that it was handed down to 
them from former times, that they should 



Eve. 5.] CHANGE OF THE SABBATH. 99 



Apostles would not have changed the Sabbath without good authority. 

meet on the Lord's day. Many other an- 
cient writers say the same. It is as evident as 
any thing can make it, that the Apostles and 
early Christians kept the first day of the week 
as the sabbath. — And they never would have 
done this, if they had not good authority. — 
We keep the first day, because they kept it, 
and because we believe they would never 
have changed the day, without knowing such 
was the will of God. 

I will now try to show you that this change 
is not a breach of the fourth commandment. 

You told us, George, in our first conversa- 
tion, that God was six days in making the 
world, because he meant to have men work 
six days before they had a day of rest ; and 
Charles told us, that the reason given in the 
fourth commandment, why God sanctified 
the sabbath, is, that he rested on the seventh 
<lay, after he had finished making the world. 
The sabbath, therefore, was a memorial of 
the work of creation. But, George, if it had 
been kept on any other day, beside that 



too CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 5. 

The alteration consistent 

which the Jews called the seventh, might it 
not have been a memorial of the creation^ 
just as well 1 . 

George, I think so, mother. 

Mrs. M. And would it not teach men just 
as well that they ought to rest, if kept on any- 
other day, as if kept on the seventh 1 

George. I think so, mother, 

Mrs. M, Then if the commandment had 
been, ^^ Thou shalt work six days and then 
rest one da}'; and then thou shall work six 
days more, and rest another day," and so 
on, you think the sabbath might have been 
just as well kept, after the fourth com- 
mandment was given, on the day which the 
Jews called the sixth, or the fifth, as on the 
seventh t 

George. I do not see why it might not, 
mother. 

Mrs. M. Well, then, let us look at the 
fourth commandment, and see whether it is 
not so expressed^ that the day may be chang- 
ed, without breaking the commandment^ or 



Eve. 5.] CHANGE OF THE SABBATH. 101 

with the fourth commandment. 

changing- its design. You may repeat the 
first part of it, George. 

George. Remember the sabbath-day to 
keep it holy \ 

Mrs. 31. So we can remember the sabbath- 
dayy to keep it holy ; just as well on any 
other day, as the seventh^ without breaking 
the fourth commandment, i/* 2/76 /^al?^ evidence 
that toe ought to keep the sabbath on some 
other day. You may repeat the next part 
of the commandment, Charles. 

Charles. " Six days shalt thou labour and 
do all thy work." 

Mrs, M. This part of the commandment 
would be kept just as well if w-e were to 
observe the sabbath on the first day of the 
week, as on the seventh day. It is not said 
which of the seven days we shall devote to 
labour ; but only that we shall work six days, 
and then rest one. So this part of the com- 
mandment does not hinder a change in the 
day for keeping the sabbath. What is the 
next part of the commandment, Susan I 



102 CHILD^S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 5 

The same hours are not kept as the Sabbath 

Susan. " But the seventh day is the sab- 
bath of the Lord thy God." 

Mrs. M. This, you will observe, only says, 
that the seventh day wsls, at that time, the 
day of rest, it does not say it always should 
be the day of rest. The seventh day answers 
the purposes of the sabbath no better than 
either of the other days would. If God pleas- 
ed, he might change the day of keeping the 
sabbath, without repealing the command to 
keep one day in seven as holy. For you must 
remember that the sabbath, as a season of 
holy rest, is one thing ; and the day on which 
it is kept, another. — Besides, as an able wri- 
ter remarks, '^ The Christian sabbath, in the 
sense of the fourth commandment, is as much 
the seventh day, as the Jewish sabbath was 
the seventh day. It is kept after six days' 
labour, as that was. It is the seventh day, 
reckoning from the beginning of our first 
working day, as well as their sabbath was 
the seventh day, reckoning from the begin- 
ning of their first working day/' Suppose a 



Eve. 5.] CHANGE OF THE SABBATH. lOS 



at the same time around the world. 



part of the Jewish nation, after receiving 
the fourth commandment, had removed to 
the Sandwich Islands. If you will look on 
the map, you will see that these islands lie 
nearly on the opposite side of the earth from 
Palestine, where the Jews lived. I suppose 
it is noon, at the Sandwich Islands, about the 
same time that it is midnight in Palestine — 
And when it is sunset in Palestine, I sup- 
pose it is about sunrise at the Sandwich 
Islands. The Jews began their day at eve- 
ning. Soon after the sun had set, the Jews 
in Palestine would regard the sabbath as be- 
gun — for the seventh day had come. But 
when should the Jews in the Sandwich Islands 
begin their sabbath ? Should they begin it 
when the evening begins in the Sandwich 
Islands ; or when the evening begins in Pa- 
lestine 1 — I think they would, without doubt, 
begin the sabbath when evening begins in 
the Sandwich Islands. But, then, they would 
keep only half of the same seventh day whi^h 
their brethren keep in Palestine. — The other 



104 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve, 5. 

Consequence of a voyage around the earth 

half would be a part of what is the first day 
in Palestine. 

The Jews, at the present time, keep the 
seventh day as the sabbath. — Suppose that a 
Jew should sail from London, around Cape 
Horn, and across the Pacific and Indian 
Oceans, and around the Cape of Good Hope, 
and then back to London. He would lose one 
day, and [lis Saturday, or seventh day, would 
be Sunday, or the first day of t he week in Lon- 
don. He would keep his seventh day as the 
sabbath, all the while he was on the voyag-e. 
He might keep it, still, when he got home. 
The Christians of London would keep the 
first day of the week, as the sabbath, while 
he was gone^ and they would continue to 
keep it, after his return. — And yet after his 
return, the Jew and the Christians of London 
would keep the very same time, as the sab- 
bath ; though one would call it Saturday, and 
the others would call it Sunday, and one 
jvould call it the seventh day, while the others 
"V^uld call it the first day. 



Eve. 5.J CHANGE OF THE SABBATH. 106 

in regard to the time of observance of the Sabbath. 

George. If those who wish to keep the 
seventh day as the sabbath, in this country, 
would only sail westward around the world, 
when they got back, they would keep the 
same time as the sabbath, which we keep ; 
and then they would not disturb our sabbaths, 
and we should not disturb them. 

Mrs. 31. Yes, my son, and if we, too, were 
to sail around the world, the other way, when 
we got back, our first day would be their se- 
venth day, and then we should not disturb 
each other. 

I think, now, you will regard the exact day 
on which the sabbath is kept, as in itself, of 
no consequence at all. 

George. Why then, did God command 
the Jews to keep the seventh day'? — Why 
not let them keep any other day in the week 
which they chose ? 

3Irs. M. God must command men to 
keep the same day, for if he did not, one 
might keep the sabbath on Monday, and 
another on Tuesday, and another on Wed- 



106 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 5. 



Why God appointed a certain day. 



nesday, and so on through all the days of 
the week. — They would be continually dis- 
turbing each other, and a great part of the 
benefits of the sabbath would be lost. 

The change of the day, from the seventh 
to the first, is not, then, in any proper sense, 
a repeal of the fourth commandment. Nor 
is it a breach of it to work on the seventh 
day ; because we have good evidence that 
since the resurrection of our Saviour, the 
time for keeping the sabbath has been chang- 
ed, by divine appointment, that is, by the 
order of God, from the seventh, to the first 
day of the week. 



107 
EVENING VI. 

[ SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE BODY. • ^ 

Susan. How beautifully the fire burns in 
the grate, this evening, mother. 

Mrs. M. Yes, my dear, this is a beautiful 
world we live in, and how well fitted one thing 
is to another. 

t^usan. What do you mean, mother T 

Mrs. M. Tf that coal in the grate were 
(almost) as hard as stone, it would not give 
out heat enough to do us any good. And, 
then, again, if it gave out a hundred times 
more heat, I suppose it would melt the grate. 
It is as well fitted as it can be to the grate, 
and to our wants. 

Susan. But God did not make the grate, 
did he, mother I 

Mrs, M. No, a man made the grate, but 
God made the iron, of which it is formed. 

How well fitted the ground is to our use! 
If it was as soft as a marsh, we could nrot 



108 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 6. 

Adaptation of things. 

walk about upon it. And if it was hard as a 
rock, we could not plough it, and get grain, 
and vegetables to eat. 

And how well fitted the cattle are to our 
wants. — If they were no larger than sheep, 
they would not have strength enough to 
draw carts and logs. — And if they were fifty 
or sixty feet long, as some animals were, 
whose bones are now and then found, they 
would be so large, that e'~could not manage 
them. — If the cows were ten or fifteen feet 
high, how inconvenient it would be to milk 
them ; and if the handsome colt which your 
father gave George, the other day, should 
grow to be as tall as one of the cherry 
trees in our fruit garden, how could George 
ever contrive to mount upon his back ] 

And the light too, how well fitted it is 
for the eye ! — It goes two hundred thou- 
sand miles in a second. — Light is matter, as 
much as a table is matter — only it is made 
up of very, very little particles. But if the 
particles of light were as large as the point 



EVE.6.J SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE BODY. l09 

Fitness of Sabbath to man. 

of a needle, moving so swiftly, they would 
batter out our eyes, every time we open our 
eyelids. I could not look a minute at my 
dear Susan, without losing- my sight. How 
well fitted one thing is to another, in this 
beautiful world which God has made — and 
how well fitted every thing is to the use ef 
man ! 

Susan. O how glad I am light is so well 
fitted to our eyes, that I can look at my dear 
mother, and not be made blind, as my cousin 
Jane is ! 

Mrs. M. You ought to be quite as glad 
that God has made the sabbath — for it is just 
as well fitted for man, as the light is to the 
eye. Arid this is iDhat we t^ill com^erse abeut 
this evening. I shall try to show you the fit- 
ness of the sabbath to man^s nature and con- 
dition. 

George. Do you expect, mother, to show 
that the sabbath is fitted for man's use, as the 
light is to the eye, or the size of oxen and 
horses to our strength 1 

8 



110 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 6. 

The objection of an irreligious man. 



Mrs. M. Certainly I do, George,— Why 
should there not be such a fitness ? — Why 
should we not expect it .^ — For God, who 
made the light for our eyes, and oxen for our 
use, also made the sabbath for man ? I 
think we might expect to find the sabbath 
perfectly fitted for man's use, perfectly suit- 
ed to his wants and condition. 

George. I shall be glad to have you show 
this, mother ; for Uncle John said, the other 
day, it was a useless waste of time. He said 
that if a man lived to be seventy years old, 
and kept every sabbath, it would amount to 
ten years. This, he said, was a great deal 
of time ; and his life was already too short: 
to have so long a piece cut off from it. 

Mrs. M. And what did you tell him ? 

George. I told him I did not believe he 
would gain any thing by breaking the sab- 
bath ; and that though I could not answer his 
objection then, I hoped I should be able to 
answer it before my mother had finished her 
conv:ersations about the sabbath. 



Eve. 6.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE BODY. 1 1 1 

Its inconsistency. 

Mrs, M. Does your Uncle John ever sleep 
any ? 

George. Sleep, mother ! — Why he must 
sleep every night, like other people. And 
beside that, he sleeps some every day — for 
the last time I went to see him, I found him 
asleep. He said, while he sat in his easy 
chair rubbing his eyes, that I was young and 
vigorous now, but when 1 was as old as he, I 
should find a short nap after dinner a very 
comfortable thing. 

Mrs. M, I suppose your Uncle John 
sleeps then, about eight hours in a day. This 
is a great deal to take out, every day, from 
the time of one whose life is so short ! At 
this rate, he would spend one third of his 
short life in sleep — what a waste 1 

George. But, mother, men must sleep, 
they cannot help it. 

Mrs, M. I know it my son ; but this does 
not show that sleep is any more fitted to the 
nature of man, than the sabbath is. Nor does 
it show that it is less a waste of time to 



113 CHILD'^ BOOK ON THE SABBATH. fEvE. 6. 

As well do without sleep, 

sleep, than to keep the sabbath. It only 
shows, that a man can get along awhile 
without keeping the sabbath, better than he 
can without sleeping. But it does not show^ 
that in the end he will not suffer from vio- 
lating the sabbath, as really as he would from 
want of sleep. If your Uncle John were kept 
from sleeping, three or four nights at a time, 
he would suffer for it immediately. He would 
break one of the laws of his nature, for God 
has made him so that he needs sleep, and he 
would be punished at once. If he were to 
keep no sabbath, for three or four years, but 
work hard, every day, he would also break a 
law of his nature, as he did by not sleeping, 
for God has made him so that his body needs 
the sabbath. And I think he would suffer for 
it; he would be punished for it, as really as 
he was punished for not sleeping — only the 
punishment would be longer in coming. He 
would grow old faster than if he rested on the 
sabbath. He would wear out sooner. This 
would be one part of his punishment. 



Eve. 6] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE BODY. 113 



as without a Sabbath. 



George. What makes you think, mother, 
that God has made men so that their bodies 
need the rest of the sabbath, as really as 
their bodies need sleep ? 

Mrs. M. Because I have the same kind 
of evidence, that men need rest on the sab- 
bath, as that they need sleep. What evi- 
dence have you that men need sleep I 

George. Every body sleeps, and besides, 
when any one's rest is broken, for several 
nights, he suffers for it. And those vi^ho 
should be often broken of their rest, would 
not live as long as if they slept soundly every 
night. 

Mrs. 31. Well, George, I have the same 
kind of evidence that men need to rest, on 
the sabbath. When they rest, on the sab- 
bath, they are more vigorous, than when 
they do not rest. They are more healthy. 
They can do more work, for they are strong- 
er ; and they live longer. 

George. If this is so, mother, then, the sab- 



114 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 6. 

Slavery and travels furnish proof that a Sabbath is 

bath is indeed, fitted for man's use, as much 
as light is fitted for the eye, 

Mrs. Jf, It is said by writers on slavery, 
that the lives of slaves were cut short, espe- 
cially in the West Indies, by constant labour. 

George. But were the slaves made to 
work on the sabbath \ 

Mrs. M. They were not compelled, by 
their masters, to work on the sabbath ; but^ 
then, they laboured for their own support, 
and went to market on the sabbath, after 
they had worked hard six days for their 
masters. The climate was favourable to 
their health — but this constant labour, it is 
said, shortened their life. 

Mr. Henry R. Schoolcraft, gives an ac- 
count of an expedition which he made with 
twenty men, to examine the Upper Missis- 
sippi, in the summer of 1830. He went on 
another tour in the summer of 1832. He 
says, '' No sabbath-day w^as employed in 
travelling. It was laid down as a principle^ 



Eve. 6.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE BODY. 1 1 5 

absolutely necessary for men. 



to rest on that day, and wherever it overtook 
us, whether on the land, or on the water, the 
men knew that their labour would cease, and 
that the day would be given them for rest. 
It may, perhaps, be thought, that the giving 
up of one seventh part of the whole time, 
employed on a public expedition in a very 
remote region, and with many men to sub- 
sist, must have, in this ratio, increased the 
time devoted to the route. But the result was 
far otherwise. The time devoted to recruit 
the men, not only gave the surgeon of the 
party an opportunity to heal up the bruises 
and chafings they complained of — but it re- 
plenished them with strength ; they com- 
menced the weekly labour with renewed rest, 
and this rest was, in a measure, kept up by 
reflection that the ensuing sabbath would be 
a day of rest, It was found by computing the 
whole route, and comparing the time em- 
ployed, with that which had been devoted on 
similar routes, in this part of the world, that 
mi eijual space had been gone over^, in less 



116 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 6. 



French Revolution. 



time, than it had ever been known to be 
performed, by loaded canoes, or (as the 
fact is) by light canoes, before." I give you 
the account in his own language ; and it is a 
striking proof that nothing is lost by keep- 
ing, and nothing gained by breaking, the sab- 
bath. For, here was a long, fatiguing jour- 
ney, made in less time, by resting on the sab- 
bath, than if they had travelled every day. 

You remember, George, that we read, the 
other night, that in the revolution in France, 
about forty years ago, the French thought 
they would not have any sabbath, like ours. 
So they divided the week into nine days of 
labour, and one day of rest. But it i.^ said^ 
that they found men could not do so much 
work, and were more wearied, when they 
rested only one day in ten, than when they 
rested one day in seven. 

The celebrated Dr. Spurzheim says, "The 
cessation of labour, one day in seven, contri- 
butes to the preservation of health, and to the 
restoration of the bodily powers." Your Ua:^ 



Eve. 6.1 SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE BODY. 117 



Drs. Spurzheim and Rush.* 



cle John cannot say that Dr. Spurzheim 
wrote so, because he was a New-England 
bigot, and was prejudiced in favour of the sab- 
bath ; for Dr. Spurzheim was a German, and 
not at all strict in his religious notions, or in 
his views of the sabbath. He was a very 
learned and scientific man, and would not 
have said what he did about the sabbath, un- 
less he thought he had very good reasons. 

Dr. Rush, of Philadelphia, one of the r blest 
physicians that have ever been in the United 
States, and a fine scholar, says, '' If there 
were no hereafter, individuals and societies 
would be great gainers by attending public 
worship. Rest from labour, in the house of 
God, winds up the machine of the soul and 
body, better than any thing else, and thereby 
invigorates it for the labours and duties of 
the ensuing week." 

George, I will tell Uncle John what Dr. 
Rush says. I hope he will not think any 
longer, that it is a waste of time to keep 
the sabbath. 



118 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 6. 

English Parliament and Dr. Farre. 

Mrs. M. A year or two ag-o, the British 
Parliament took np the subject of observing 
the sabbath. They appointed a committee 
to examine the matter. On this committee 
were some of the most distinguished mem- 
bers of Parliament. The Parliament wanted 
to learn whether it does men any good, in 
this world, to keep the sabbath. 

You see, ihey were not inquiring whether 
God has commanded men to keep the sab- 
bath. 1 suppose some of the members of 
Parliament did not much care whether the 
fourth commandment is now binding, or 
not. But if the sabbath does any good to 
men, in this world, when it is well kept, they 
wanted the British nation should enjoy the 
benefit. The committee put questions to a 
great many men of different trades and pro- 
fessions, to get information about the sabbath. 
They examined, among others, one of the 
most eminent physicians in London, called 
:Dr. Farre. He was a skilful man, and the 
sconiniittee asked him maijy questions. I can- 



Eve. 6.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE BODY. 119 



Our domestic animals need one day of rest. 



not tell you all he said, though it is very in- 
teresting. I will tell you a part of it in my 
own language. He said the sabbath does 
men good in this world, as well as in the 
next. He said that the rest which men get 
by sleeping in the night, is not as much as 
they need to keep them healthy, and give 
them long life. He said it is very kind, there- 
fore, in God, to give men one day in seven 
for rest, that they may get recruited. Try 
an experiment, he said, on beasts that la- 
bour. Take the horse, for example. Work 
him, for some time, as much as you can 
make him bear, every day in the week. — 
Do not let him rest on the sabbath. Then 
work him, for the same length of time, 
again^ and just as hard — only let him lie 
still on the sabbath. You will soon see that 
he is more vigorous, and works better, when 
he rests on the sabbath, than when he works 
seven days in the week. 

Charles. Now I see, mother, why God 



120 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 6. 



All animals do not 



commanded that the cattle should not be 
made to work, on the sabbath. 

Susan. Why did not God make every 
thing which has life keep the sabbath 1 The 
birds fly about in the air, on the sabbath-day, 
and the lambs skip about in the field. Why 
does not God make the birds and the lambs, 
and every thing- which has life, keep the sab- 
bath 1 

Mrs. M. Every thing which has life does 
not need the sabbath, perhaps. In trees and 
vegetables, there are veins which carry the 
sap from the roots to the branches and 
leaves, and then back again to the roots, as 
blood is carried from the heart to every part 
of our bodies, and then back again, by ar- 
teries and veins. I suppose God might have 
made trees and vegetables, so that they would 
need to rest, one day in seven, as we do. 
And I suppose God might have made the 
beasts that rove about in the woods, and the 
birds that fly about in the air, so that they 



Eve. 6.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE BODY. 121 

need a day of rest. 

would need the sabbath, as well as man. But 
he has not done it. The rose is never tired 
of hanging on the bush and being beautiful ; 
nor the lily with standing on its stalk and be- 
ing fragrant. The wild beasts of the forest, 
when undisturbed by man, never appear to be 
weary. They do not labour, they get their 
food, and then lie down to sleep. And the 
birds of the air, our Saviour says, '' neither 
sow nor reap,^' have '^ neither storehouse nor 
barn^' — so they are not anxious about laying 
up wealth, and getting a living, and are ne- 
ver tired by working. 

Mrs. M. Dr. Farre said, further, that men 
who do not rest on the sabbath, may hold out 
longer than beasts of burden ; but at last 
they will break down more suddenly. This 
want of rest, on the sabbath, would shorten 
their life, and make them feebler in old age. 
He said it is a duty to keep the sabbath, if it is 
a duty to preserve life. The committee asked 
him if he would recommend to every body 
who must work six days, to rest on the se- 



122 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 6. 

More that Dr. Farre said about the Sabbath. 

venth ? He said he would, and that in the 
course of life they would gain hy it. He 
said he found it necessary for himself to work 
as little as he could, on the sabbath ; and that 
he has known niany physicians and clergymen 
shorten their lives, because they had to labour 
six days in the week, without resting on the 
sabbath. 

Charles. Is this the reason that father 
always tries to go to meeting on the sab- 
bath ] 

Mrs. M. Your father never wishes to have 
any one send for him on the sabbath, un- 
less it is necessary ; as he wants the sab- 
bath for rest. And he says that our minis- 
ter, who cannot rest on the sabbath, ought 
to rest on Monday. And he tells our neigh- 
bours that they ought not to call upon the 
minister, on Monday, if they can make their 
visits on any other day. 

Mrs. M. Do you think now, George, that 
the sabbath is fitted for man, as the light is 
for the eye ? 



E7E. 6.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE BODY. 123 

We owe our health to a Sabbath. 

George. Yes, mother, it seems so to me, 
and I hope I shall be very thankful that the 
same kind Being, who has given me eyes to 
see the light, has also let me live where lean 
rest my body, one day in seven. 

But, mother, Uncle John said that it might 
do well enough tor the rich, and for those who 
can afford it to keep the sabbath ; but that 
for poor men and day labourers, it is a heavy 
burden. 

Mrs. M. Is it a burden, George, to have 
one^s body made more vigorous I 

George. No, mother. 

Mrs. M. Or to have ore^s health better \ 

George. No, mother. 

Mrs. M, Or to have one's life length- 
ened ? 

George. Certainly not, mother. 

Mrs. 31. But the distinguished medical 
men whose opinions I have quoted, say that 
all these things come from keeping the sab- 
bath. 

George, Bat, mother. Uncle John said 



124 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 6. 

The Sabbath then a blessing to the poor. 

that poor labouring men have to give up 
fifty-two days in a year, on account of the 
sabbath. The pay for these fifty-tv^o days, 
he said, they could ill afford to lose. Add 
it to what they get now, and they might be 
very comfortable. 

Mrs. M, Can people always get the same 
price for their labour \ 

George. No, mother ; sometimes father 
has to give more for a day's work, than he 
gives at other times. 

Mrs. M, Why is this ] 

George. I never thought much about it, 
but I suppose it is because sometimes there 
are more labourers than work to be done. 
The more labourers there arc, the less wages 
they will get. When there is but little corn, 
the farmers ask more for it. And when you 
sent me to the grocers, the other day, to get 
some oil, he told me that I must give him 
more than I gave the last time, because oil 
was growing scarce, and there was not much 
of it in market. 



Eve. 6.J SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE BODY. 125 
Effect of having no Sabbath. 

Mrs. M. Well, my son, suppose there were 
in a town three hundred and thirteen labour- 
ers. If you were to add fifty-two to their num- 
ber, what change do you think there would 
be in the price of labour r 

George. I suppose, mother, that labour 
might be one sixth cheaper, if there was no 
more labour wanted than there is now, and 
all the new labourers were to be employed. 

Mrs, M. I think there would be some such 
change. Now, George, suppose every body 
was to think as your Uncle John does, that 
it is a burden for the poor to keep the sab- 
bath ; and all should agree that the poor 
might work seven days in the week, instead 
of six. Do you not see that it would be just 
the same as if one sixth part was added to 
the present number of labourers'? Many 
farmers and manufacturers,, who now employ 
seven men, would dismiss one of them — or 
else they would reduce their pay, and give 
them no more for seven days than they had 
given them for six. 

9 



1 26 CHILD'S BOOK GN THE SABBATH. [Eve. 6. 

The Sabbath^the poor man's friend. 

George. It i^ so, mother. 

Mrs. M. The poor man would labour fif- 
ty-two days more in a year than he does 
now ; but he would get only the same amount 
of wages which he gets at present, while he 
rests on every one of these fifty-two days. 

What do you think of the matter, now, my 
son ; — Is it a burden for the poor to rest on. 
the sabbath ? 

George. O no, mother, the sabbath is the 
poor man's friend. 

Mrs-.. M. Yes, George, and one of the 
best friends which he has in the world. I 
liave seen some rich people, who seem scarce- 
ly to know how to loiter away the hours, dur- 
ing the six days, while poor men are hard at 
work, and I have thought what a burdea 
these rich, idle people would consider the 
sabbath. But when I have seen a poor man^ 
returning to his home, as the sun is setting 
on Saturday night, I ba^ve wished to go and 
kneel down with him, at hia happy fire-side^ 
i^nd join witli hi^n in thanks to heaven, tha 



Eve. 6.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE BODY. 127 

Condition of Sandwich Islands. 

another sabbath has come, and the weary 
may once more find rest. O, my children, 
the sabbaih is the friend of every body, but 
it is especially the friend of the poor. They 
wrong- their own souls — they wrong their 
own bodies, when they despise or think light- 
ly of the sabbath. 

George. Mother, did the heathen, at the 
Sandwich Islands, keep the sabbath, whe^ 
our missionaries first went to live among 
them \ 

Mrs. M. No, my child. 

George. Well, then, mother, were the poor 
any better off* there, than in New-England, 
where the sabbath is kept so strictly ? 

Mrs. M. No, my child — You can scarcely 
find a man in the country towns of New-En- 
gland, who has not a better house to live in, 
and more comforts, than most of the chiefs 
had in the Sandwich Islands. As to the poor 
in those islands, they have no property- The 
chiefs own every thing, an^t^e just as much 
as they please, of what the poor raise from 



128 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 6. 

The Sabbath makes the difference 

the land. The poor there are more misera- 
ble than you can imagine. 

George. Would it not be better for them 
to have the sabbath ] 

Mrs. M. The sabbath might do as much 
for them as it has done for New-England. 

We should have been worshipping Woden 
and Thor, with our Saxon forefathers, but for 
the sabbath — ^just as the Sandwich Islanders 
worshipped gods of wood and stone. It is 
the sabbath that makes the people of New- 
England industrious and comfortable, for we 
do not naturally love to work, any more than 
the Sandwich Islanders ; and we should not 
work more than was absolutely necessary if 
the rich took our property away whenever 
they please. The only reason^ George, why 
the people in New-England are not as wretch- 
ed as the people were in the Sandwich Islands^ 
is that we have the Gospel and they had not. 

The Gospel has given us good laws to 
guard our property when we get it, and so we 
have Bome encouragement to work. The 



Eve. 6.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE BODY. 12^ 

between us and the poor heathen. 

Sandwich Islanders were without good laws, 
because they were without the Gospel. But 
no nation can have the Gospel and good laws, 
without the sabbath. You might as well look 
for rain without clouds. If your Uncle John 
says again that it is a burden to the poor to 
keep the sabbath, ask him to tell you why 
the people of the Sandwich Islands are so 
poor I 



130 



EVENING VII. 

SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE MIND. 

My dear children, last sabbath evening* 
we saw how admirably fitted the sabbath is 
to the human body. Now let us see if it is as 
well fitted to the human mind. 

I think you told me, George, that your va- 
cation was to begin next Wednesday, and 
last a fortnight. 

George. Yes, mother, and I am glad of 
it ; for I am almost tired of studying, and 
wish to rest for a while. 

Mrs. M. Perhaps your Uncle John would 
consider this a useless waste of time. 

George. If he were as young as he was 
once, and as I am now, 1 do not believe he 
would think so. Do you think our vacation 
is a useless waste of time, mother 1 

Mrs. M. No, my son. I have always no- 
ticed that you love to study better, and make 
more progress, after a vacation^ than before^ 



Eve. 7.] SABBATH NECESSARY F^OR THE MIND. 131 
Sabbath necessary for the mind. 

The mind, so long* as it is connected with the 
body, must have seasons for resting. I knov. 
some people wonder how any one can be tired, 
who has nothing to do but sit still and study. 
But the mind tires, as well as the body — or 
rather, I ought to say, the brain g^ets tired of 
thinkmg, as much as the arms get tired of 
working. I suppose angels are never tired ; 
and when we get a spiritual body, we shall 
not, perhaps, ever become weary by think- 
ing and feeling. 

Hard and long study, so physicians tell 
us, excites the brain, and makes the blood 
flow to it more rapidly, and in larger quan- 
tity, than at other times. The brain becomes 
heated, and the head often feels full and 
pressed. The blood inclines to rush to the 
brain constantly, and, if care is not taken, 
in season, the man may become insane, and 
at last be a confirmed maniac. He did not 
stop thinking so soon as he ought. Per- 
haps he did not stop on the sabbath, but 



132 CHILD^S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 7. 

Sir Isaac Newton. 

kept thinking about his studies as on other 
days. 

I read, not long since, in the life of Sir 
Isaac Newton, how he discovered the law 
of gravitation ; or what makes all bodies, 
when thrown up into the air, fall to the 
ground, and what binds the moon to the 
earth, and the earth to the sun, and all 
parts of the world together. He had been 
thinking and studying hard, a good while, 
and wishing very much to find out what 
made the apple fall to the ground, as he lay 
under an apple tree in his garden. When 
he began to be almost sure that he should 
discover what he was seeking, he was so 
agitated and became so nervous, that he durst 
not go on w^ith his study. He gave his pa- 
pers to a friend, and told him to complete 
the calculations. If he had not diverted his 
mind, he would, very likely, have lost his 
reason. 

Now we see how well fitted the sabbatfe 



Eve. 7.J SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE MIND. 133 

Effect of deep and continued feeling. 

is to the nature of the mind. The brain 
calls for repose, and cannot long be kept 
in a healthy state without it. The sabbath 
gives just the repose which the brain calls 
for, and so much needs. Light is no better 
fitted to the eye, than the repose of the sab- 
bath is to the nature of the mind, or, as I 
might say, to the wants of the brain. For 
learned men, who have examined the subject, 
say that the mind makes use of the brain for 
thinking, just as it makes use of the limbs 
for walking, and of the arms for hammering 
the iron on the anvil. 

The mind not only thinks hut feels. And 
the influence of deep feeling on the mind, 
when long continued, is often very great and 
melancholy. It is no uncommon thing for 
deep settled grief to overpower the reason, 
and make persons insane. You remember 
that when our neighbour, Mrs. F. had lost 
her dear little Frederick, she was very me- 
lancholy, and her friends were afraid she 
would become deranged. So her husband 



134 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 7. 

Sabbath is a rest from care. 

went with her on a long journey, that she 
might see a great many new things, and 
sometimes forget her dear boy who was 
dead. They knew that if she stayed at home, 
she would be thinking of him all the while, 
and this might at last make her insane. They 
did not wish her to be thinking about her loss 
all the time. So her husband tried to divert 
her mind on the journey as much as he could* 
He pointed out to her every thing beautiful 
and strange that he saw. By and by she 
took some notice of what he had showed 
her, and then she began to recover from her 
grief. 

One of the uses of the sabbath, my chil- 
dren, is to divert the mind from its cares, and 
business, and sorrows, and thus to keep it in 
a healthy state. 

In the worship of God's house we forget 
our sorrow. While we think of the mansions 
where there is no grief, and no disappoint- 
ment, our harden is thrown off, and our sink- 
ing hearts are refreshed. To be sure, cares 



EvK. 7.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE MIND. 135 

Marquis of Londonderry deranged. 

will come again, and the clouds of sorrow 
will again overshadow us ; but another sab- 
bath will scatter them all away. In this man- 
ner the sabbath diverts the mind, just as the 
new objects on the journey, diverted and 
soothed the mind of Mrs. F. 

1 happen to think of a very striking fact or 
two, which will illustrate what I have said. 
A few years ag'o, the Marquis of London- 
derry killed himself, in what was supposed to 
be a state of mental derangement. He was 
the chief of those whom the king trusted to 
manage the government, and was called the 
Prime Minister. He did not keep the sab- 
bath. He let the business and the cares of 
the week, perplex his mind during the sab- 
bath, just as on other days. He never laid 
down his burden. It was more than he could 
carry without resting, at last he sunk under 
its weight. 

I cannot tell what would have happened, 
if he had remembered '' the sabbath day to 
keep it holy ;" but I think it very probable 



136 ' CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 7. 

Many men have destroyed their lives by constant cares. 

that if he had gone to church, on the sab- 
bath, instead of going to his office, his life 
and reason might have continued a good 
while longer. If he had attended public 
worship, while listening to so eloquent a man 
as Dr. Chalmers, or joining in the prayers 
and praises of the house of God, I suppose 
he could not have thought of his business. 
He would have forgotten the duties and cares 
of the Prime Minister, and would have been 
refreshed and cheered by the services of the 
sabbath. When the day of rest was over, 
he could enter again upon the business of 
the week with new energy and spirit. His 
body would be more active, his mind more 
calm, and his judgment more clear and sound. 
Dr. Farre, in the examination which I have 
already mentioned, said that he had known 
many senators and others in the higher ranks, 
destroy their lives by continually thinking, 
and not resting on the sabbath. 

You have often heard of Mr. Wilberforce, 
the friend of Africa md the slaves. He was 



Eve. 7.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE MIND. 137 



Mr. Wilberforce's testimony. 



a statesman as well as a Christian. Dur- 
ing one part of his life, he had to do a great 
deal of public business. But let him be ever 
so much occupied, he always observed the 
sabbath. He says he should have sunk un- 
der the weight of his labour, if he had not 
thrown it off, one day in seven. He could 
not have borne to think so much, without 
resting. He said that several of his associ- 
ates in public life, died early of disease, or 
became insane and committed suicide, who, 
if they had kept the sabbath, might have 
been vigorous and active many years longer. 
The sabbath is equally well fitted to aid 
men in judging correctly. When we form a 
judgment, you know, we compare things 
together. If I wished to determine which 
of two apples is the largest, I should place 
them side by side ; that is, I should compare 
one with the other, and then judge or form 
my opinion. You have often seen your 
father's glass, which makes things appear 
larger than they really are. 



138 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 7. 

Effect of Sabbath upon 

Susan. O yes, mother, and how large and 
beautiful the butterfly's wing looked, which 
you let us see through the glass, last sum- 
mer. 

Mrs. M. Now, if, in deciding which ap- 
ple is the largest, I were to look at one of 
them with the naked eye, and at the other 
through the magnifying glass, do you think, 
George, I should judge correctly ? 

George. I suppose you might not, mother; 
and though I always think what you say is 
right ; I should be almost afraid you had 
been deceived, and judged, wrong about the 
apple. 

Mrs. M. When men think of any object 
a great while, without interruption, it appears 
larger and of more importance than it really 
is. This continued thinking has the same 
effect on the mind, which looking through ar 
magnifying glass has on the eye. Now sup- 
pose men want to judge between this object^ 
of which they have been thinking so long^ 
and some other objeat. They will be in dan- 



Eve. 7.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE MIND. 139 



business men in worldly business. 



ger of judging wrong, just as I was in the 
case of the apple ; because one object ap- 
pears to them to be larger than it really is, 
and the other does not. Now, George, what 
would you do to make them judge correctly, 
in this case 1 

George. Why, mother, I think the best 
way would be to tell them to think of some- 
thmg else, a day or two^ before they form 
their judgment. 

Mrs. M. You could not give them better 
advice, my son. And this is just the use of 
the sabbath, in helping men to judge correctly? 
and in saving them from judging wrong. In 
this way, I have no doubt, the sabbath has pre- 
vented many a base bargain. Some object, of 
which men have thought too long, becomes, in 
their view, larger than it is, — they value it 
more highly than they ought, and they would 
be likely to give more for it than it is worth. 
But the sabbath comes ; they read their Bi- 
bles, they attend public worship, they think 
of the eudless sabbath, aad forget what they 



140 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 7.. 



Sabbath fitted to health of body and mind. 



have been thinking of during the week. And 
when they return to their business, on Mon- 
day, they find out their mistake. The sab- 
bath, I might say, removes the magnifying 
glass from their eyes, and now they see just 
how large the object is. This will keep 
them from judging wrong, and getting into 
difficulty. I think a cautious man would 
wish to rest over the sabbath, when his 
feelings have been much excited, before he 
ventures to judge in any case. 

I have now shown you, my children, that 
the sabbath is fitted to the bodies of men, 
for their physical nature, and to their minds 
or their intellectual nature. Is it as well 
fitted to their moral nature \ Will it help 
men to love and serve Godi Will it help 
them to prepare for another world \ 

This, my children, is the great use of the 
sabbath. For of how little worth are our 
bodies, if we compare them with our immor- 
tal souls r What if, by resting on the sab- 
bath, we live a little longer, and enjoy a 



Eve. 7.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE MIND. 141 

The Sabbath necessary, not for this life only, 

little better health, and are a little more 
vigorous and free from pain ] The body- 
will die, at last, after all our care. And what 
if the sabbath helps us to think, without los- 
ing^ the command of our mind, and becoming 
insane I And what if it helps us to bear our 
sorrows and our misfortunes, and makes us 
more cheerful and happy] And what if it 
improves our judgment, and saves us from 
making injudicious bargains ] 

Whether we are happy here, or wretched, 
this life will soon be over. But the life to 
come will never end. The soul will never 
die. 

Now, is the sabbath fitted to aid man in pre- 
paring for the future world 1 Is it as neces- 
sary for his moral nature, as light is to the 
eye, or as food is to the body t 

There can be no doubt that it is. Men 
will not be prayerful, and devoted, and pious, 
where they neglect the sabbath. They must 
have time for meditation, time for prayer> 
time for reading the Bible, time for worship- 

10 



142 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 7. 

But for the life that is to come. 

ping God in his sanctuary, or they will lose 
all their religious feeling. They muBt stop 
their worldly business, one day in seven, or 
their moral nature will suffer, as much as 
their bodies will suffer for want of the sab- 
bath. They are in no more danger of be- 
coming insane, from constant thinking, than 
they are of becoming worldly, [by constant 
attention to business. In both cases, they 
must stop ; they must keep the sabbath, or 
the mind will get into a bad and dangerous 
state. 

Like a neglected garden, where the tall 
weeds spring up and overshadow the flowers^ 
so would the heart be without the sabbath. 
The rank weeds of worldliness and care 
would choke the growth of piety. But the 
sabbath comes, like Adam into Eden, to 
dress and to keep the garden of the soul. It 
clears away the weeds of v/orldliness and 
care. Then the flowers of devotion expand 
to the light of the Sun of Righteousness, and 
4rink in the refreshing dews of heavei^A 



Eve. 7.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE MIND. 143; 

The Sabbath gives time for religious meditation. 

They scatter their fragrance on every breeze, 
and unfold their beauty to every eye. 

On other days, labourers, servants, and 
domestics, are often so much pressed by 
those who employ them, that it is very dif- 
ficult for them to attend, propedy, to the 
wants of the soul. Some persons are tempt- 
ed to neglect secret prayer, and reading the 
Bible, because they wish to be about their 
worldly business. Or they hurry through 
these duties, so as to do them very little 
good. But on the sabbath they cannot work 
on their farms, or in their shops ; they can- 
not make bargains, or seek after office. Men, 
therefore, are not driven by necessity, and 
they have no temptation from their worldly 
concerns, to neglect secret prayer, and read- 
ing the Bible, on the sabbath. 

And if there was no sabbath, too, men 
would not assemble, every week, for the 
worship of God. But public w^orship awa- 
kens the sympathies of men. The cold heart 
of one is kindled into a flame, by the zeal 



144 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 7- 

One consequence of having no Sabbath. 

and devotion of another. Feeling flows from 
soul to soul, just as when men gather to cele- 
brate some joyful festival. How well suit- 
ed, then, are the sabbath and its services, to 
the moral nature and condition of man ] 

Charles. I do not see, mother, that I need 
a day of rest so often as the sabbath comes. 

Mrs. M. You do not have to labour so 
hard, now, as you may have to labour if you 
live to be a man. But I think, Charles, if you 
had to get up as soon as it is light, and work 
ten or twelve hours, every day, as boys no 
older than you, do in England, you w^ould 
count the days to the sabbath, just as you was, 
this evening, counting the weeks to Thanks- 
giving. 

Charles. Would these little boys have to 
work so hard, every day, all the year, if there 
was no sabbath. 

Mrs. M. I suppose so, my son. 

Charles. O mother, 1 am very glad God 
made the sabbath for these poor children, so 
that they can rest when they are tiredr I 



Eve. 7.3 SAFBATH NECESSARY FOR THE MIND. 145 

Many of its blessings we do not see. 

hope I shall never wish, again, there was not 
any sabbath, as I used to wish when I wanted 
to play with my wooden horse, and you would 
tell me, I must not play, for it was the sab- 
bath, 

Susan. I never get so tired of thinkings 
mother, that I need any sabbath. 

Mrs. M. No, Susan, little girls like you, 
do not often become insane by thinking too 
long on one thing. 

Susan. And I do not see, mother, what 
need there is of the sabbath to help people 
bear their cares and sorrows. 

Mrs. M. You are young, my child, and 
know very little what cares and sorrows 
mean. You do not feel so much now as you 
will when you grow older, how kind God is^ 
in giving us the repose of the sabbath. It 
is very dark and rainy to night. You sit here 
in a pleasant room, with a bright light, and 
comfortable fire, and wonder what need peo- 
ple ever have of the moon and the stars. 
But you will not wonder, when you have been 



146 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 7. 

An eternal Sabbath to come. 

tossed over the waves, as some poor sailor, 
perhaps, is tossing to night, without moon or 
stars to guide your course, while the wind 
whistles through the rigging, and you are 
afraid, every moment, that the vessel will 
dash against the rocks. 

But, my child, though you may not now 
need one day in seven to rest your body, or 
refresh your mind, you need the sabbath to 
make you think about God, and prepare for 
heaven. The Bible tells us there remain- 
eth, therefore, a rest to the people of God. 
This rest, my child, is in heaven. It is sweet, 
unbroken, and eternal. None who enjoy it, 
think it a weariness, and happy are they who 
shall enjoy it for ever. But it remaineth 
ofilu to the people of God, Think of this, 
my child. You know you cannot be one 
of God's people, without a new heart. You 
must, then, have a new heart before you die, 
or you will not spend this delightful, unend- 
ing sabbath, with the people of God. 

Before we separate, you may repeat^ Si^« 



Eve. 7.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE MIND. 147 

Hymn on the Sabbath. 

san, that charming hymn which T taught you^ 
about the Eternal Sabbath- 

SUSAJY. 

Thine earthly sabbaths, Lord, we lovej 
But there's a noble rest above ; 
To that our longing souls aspire, 
With ardent pangs of strong desire. 

No more fatigue ; no more distress, 
Nor sin, nor hell, shall reach the place ; 
No groans to mingle with the songs 
That warble from immortal tongues. 

No rude alarms of raging foes ; 
No cares to break the long repose ; 
No midnight shade, no clouded sun. 
But sacred, high, eternal noon. 

Around thy throne grant we may meet, 
And give us but the lowest seat, 
We'll shout thy praise and join the song 
Of the triumphant, holy throng. 



148 
EVENING VIIL 

SABBATH NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY. 

Uncle John told me, mother, last week, 
said George, that there ought to be no laws 
to compel men to keep the sabbath. He said 
all oug^ht to do as they please about observ- 
ing it. If they choose to rest, very well ; and 
if they do not choose to rest, it is no one's 
business. 

Mrs. M. Does your Uncle John think it 
right to make laws that no one shall commit 
murder, or steal, or be guilty of perjury t 

George. He must think such laws would 
be right. 

Mrs. M. Why would it be right to make 
laws against murder, and theft, and perjury \ 

George. Because men could not live to- 
gether without such laws. 

Mrs. M. You mean that these laws are 
fitted to the condition of man in society, 
and that this is the reason why they are 



Eve. 8.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY. 149 

Sabbath for good of society. 

made, and not because God has forbidden 
men to murder j and steal, and lie. 

George. Yes, mother. 

Mrs. M. If the sabbath, then, is fitted 
to the condition of men, living together in 
the samo neighbourhood, town or state, would 
it not be right to make laws requiring them to 
keep the sabbath 1 

George. I do not see, mother, why it would 
not be as right, as it is to make laws against 
murder and theft, and perjury. 

Mrs. M. The sabbath is fitted to promote 
the welfare of society. 

This is the reason, why, in almost all 
Christian countries, laws have been made to 
secure it from violation. These laws are not 
made, because God has sanctified the sabbath, 
but because such laws are of as much use to 
society, as laws that forbid murder, theft, and 
perjury. 

George. I wish, mother, you would show 
that the sabbath is fitted to promote the 
welfare of society, for Uncle John says, the 



1 50 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 8 

Inconsistency of infidels. 

sabbath often does society a great deal of 
hurt. He says when men are idle, and have 
nothing* to do, they are much more likely to 
get into mischief, than when they are busy at 
work. He says, that labouring men often 
spend the sabbath in amusement, and in drink- 
ing all they earn during the week, and leave 
their families to suffer, if not to starve. He 
says it would be much better for them to 
work on the sabbath, than to be idle and 
spend all they earn, and get sick or wounded, 
from their frolics on that day. 

Mrs. M. Are not most of the crimes 
which we hear and read of, committed in the 
night t 

George. Yes, mother. 

Mrs. M. The Apostle calls these crimes 
the works of darkness. But because some 
men who ought to be asleep, spend the night 
in doing mischief, would you have no night 
in which men could repose 1 And because 
some men abuse the sabbath, and do what 
God forbids, would you not have any sab- 



Eve. 8.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY. 151 



Sabbath when profaned, source of evils. 



bath ] If God had commanded men to frolic 
on the sabbath, to spend the day in gamb- 
ling, and drinking, and dancing, and fighting, 
your Uncle John might say, with more rea- 
son, that men had better work on the sab- 
bath. But God commands men to rest, and 
keep the sabbath holy. It is not the sabbath 
which God has sanctified, that does so much 
mischief, but the sabbath as kept by wicked 
men. We have no right to profane the sab- 
bath, and pervert it to wrong uses, and then 
complain that it does much injury, and say 
that we could do better without it. 

The sabbath, which, I shall try to show 
you, promotes the welfare of society, is a day 
of rest from our common business ; a day 
devoted to the worship of God, to public and 
private instruction, to religious reading and 
meditation, and to works of kindness and 
mercy. These duties are all interwoven in 
the sabbath, or rather, I might say, make 
a part of it. I agree with Dr. Rush, that 
^^ amusements of every kind, on the sabbathj 



152 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [ [Eve. 8. 



Sabbath means rest from labour. 



beget habits of idleness, and a love of plea- 
sure, which extend their influence to every 
day of the week." I condemn them utterly, 
and as heartily, as your Uncle John. Better 
have no sabbath, than spend it in dissipation 
and amusement. 

The original meaning of the sabbath, is 
rest from labour. As a day of repose^ the 
sabbath is of great use in promoting order^ 
and good morals in society. 

You remember, George, that you read to 
me, a few evenings ago, from Russel's His- 
tory of Modern Europe, an account of the 
truce of God, in the eleventh or twelfth cen- 
tury. 

George. Yes, mother, and you told me 
it was a sort of sabbath, and if men had only 
kept this truce, it would have been very use- 
ful in preventing mischief. 

Charles. What is the ^^ Truce of God,'' 
which brother George read about, in that book 
you mentioned 1 

Mrs. M. Many centuries ago, all the no- 



Eve. 8.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY. 153 

Effect of observance of a Sabbath. 

bles and great men in Europe, claimed the 
right of going to war with each other, when- 
ever they pleased. This was called the right 
of private war. You know that only king® 
and governments are permitted to declare 
war, now, and the wars which they make are 
called public wars. The Arabs still go to war 
with each other, and any one else, as often 
as they choose, and they are not punished for 
it, because it is the custom of their country. 

These private wars had become so trouble- 
some and dangerous, that the governments of 
several countries in Europe, about seven or 
eight hundred years ago, tried to put an end 
to them. But men love to fight so well, that 
the governments could not stop the nobles 
from going to war, whenever one thought 
another had insulted him, or done him an in- 
jury. 

Men at that day were very ignorant, and 
very superstitious. It was therefore thought 
best to try what superstition could do in stop- 
ping these private wars. So it was pretended 



1^4 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 8. 

Supposed message from heaven. 

that a letter had been sent from heaven to a 
bishop of Aquitane, in France, which com- 
manded all men to cease quarrelling-, and to 
make peace with each other. From some 
cause, the historian does not say what, 
men were suffering great calamities, when 
this pretended command was given. I sup- 
pose there may have been a destructive pes- 
tilence, such as now and then swept over 
countries, in former times. Or there may 
have been a famine, such as often prevailed, 
before men understood agriculture as well as 
they do nov/j and when there was not much 
intercourse among different nations. 

But whatever was the cause, they were in 
great trouble. So they nvere very ready to do 
what they supposed was commanded from 
heaven. They hoped that God would not, 
then, be angry with them, and punish them 
any longer. There w^as a general recon- 
ciliation. Men that had always been bitter 
enemies, and fought whenever they met, now 
came together as friends. A rule was made 



Eve. 8.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY. 156 
Truce of God. 

that no man should attack, or injure his foes, 
during the holidays of the church, and from 
every Thursday evening, to the next Monday 
morning. The days between Thursday and 
Monday were to be regarded as holy, be- 
cause our Saviour died on Friday and rose 
on Sunday. This ceasing from fighting, dur- 
ing these days, was called '^ the Truce of 
God.^^ If this truce had been kept strictly, 
the historian says, there would have been so 
much time for men's passions to cool, that it 
would have gone far towards putting an end 
to private wars. 

In the same way, the sabbath gives the 
minds of men, a season of repose, and reflec- 
tion. Their passions get cool, and they do 
not any longer wish to injure one another. 
This is the reason why I told George that the 
" Truce of God," which he was reading about, 
is somewhat like the sabbath. 

When men are very angry and violent, if 
you can only persuade them to stop and re- 



!56 • CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 8. 

Effect of Sabbath upon our passions. 

fleet a moment, they become calm, and their 
anger dies away. I think there would not be 
many law-suits for assault and battery, if men 
would always wait, half an hour, after they 
raise iheir arm to strike, before they give the 
blow. 

They would soon see how foolish it is to 
be angry, and to wish to take revenge for an 
insult or injury. 

When hurried by business, or excited by 
party feeling, men often do things for which 
they feel very sorry, as soon as they have time 
to reflect. Such a season is given by the 
sabbath. 

Temptation blinds the mind, during the 
cares and business of the week. It threatens 
to overpower us and lead us into sin. But 
amid the repose of the sabbath, the judg- 
ment is clear, and the conscience is active, 
and eternity is nigh. Then we Bee how 
temptation is trying to deceive and destroy 
our souls, and we escape from its snare* 



Eve. 8.J SABBATH NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY. 167 

Sabbath produces reflection. 

Men are often prone to prize wealth too 
highly, and may be in danger of doing wrong 
to obtain it. 

Perhaps they begin to think of some scheme 
for g-etting what belong-s to another, by dis- 
honesty and fraud. But they dare not medi- 
tate on the scheme, on the sabbath. In these 
quiet and solemn hours, the mind becomes 
ashamed of the plan for defrauding a neigh- 
bour, and it is laid aside before its execution 
is begun. 

The sabbath places a wall between the 
angry man, and the object of his anger; be- 
tween the revengeful man, and the object of 
his fury ; between the covetous man, and the 
object of his desire; between the ambitious 
man, and the office at which he aims. It 
brings them all to a stand. It bids them 
pause and reflect. It changes the tempest 
into a healthful breeze — the raging tide into 
a murmuring ripple. 

The voice of the sabbath is a voice of gen- 
ii 



158 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 8. 

Sabbath promotes intelligence. 

tleness. I have sometimes thought that even 
the music of the birds is softer on the sab- 
bath, than on other days ; and that the echoes 
in the fields and in the groves, are more mel- 
low and soothing. To the rudeness of the 
passionate, and to the clamorous desires 
of the greedy and ambitious, the sabbath 
speaks, in the language of him who calm- 
ed the winds and the waves, ^' Peace, be 
still." 

The sabbath is admirably fitted to pror- 
mote intelligence in the community. 

If there was ro sabbath, there would be 
no ministers settled over congregations, as 
there are now. And if there were no minis- 
ters, especially in country tow ns, there would 
be few good schools. Clergymen are almost 
always on the committees for examining 
teachers, and for visiting schools. And 
schools, when neglected by clergymen, are 
not often flouri^shing. 

Think, too, my children, how much know- 



Eve. 8.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY. 1 69 

Thomas Bradish's father. 

ledge must be collected, in the course of a 
long life, by devoting a part of one day in 
seven, to reading and reflection ! Good dea- 
con Stockton knows much more than the 
father of Thomas Bradish. The difference 
would not be much greater if deacon Stock-^ 
ton had gone to school, one half of each se- 
venth day, from his childhood until the age 
of threescore years and ten ; w^hile the father 
of Thomas Bradish had never gone to school 
a day in his life. But a great part of this 
difference, I have no doubt, is owing to the 
different manner in which they keep the sab- 
bath. The father of Thomas Bradish goes 
to hunting and fishing on the sabbath, or else 
he roves about the fields, or spends the day 
in sleep. But deacon Stockton, who owns a 
share in the parish library, is always careful 
to have some good book to read, on the sab- 
bath. To be sure, he says there is no book 
like the Bible ; still, he thinks best to spend 
a part of the sabbath in reading other books. 



160 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 6- 

Deacon Stockton. 

Yoa can scarcely name a biography of good 
men and women, which deacon Stockton has 
not read. He is well acquainted with history 
and chronology. He knows all about the 
countries, where the missionaries reside. He 
works hard during* the week, and has a large 
family to support; but yet he finds time, by 
keeping the sabbath strictly, to grow in 
knowledge, as well as in grace. 

There are many such men as deacon Stock- 
ton, in almost every congregation w^here the 
sabbath is observed — venerable men, men of 
principle and good sense, who are made so, 
very much, by keeping the sabbath. 

Now converse with the father of Thomas 
Bradish. When young, he was a school- 
mate of deacon Stockton, and was the bright- 
est, I have been told, of the two. But the 
father of Thomas Bradish did not love to keep 
the sabbath. While deacon Stockton was 
reading, on the sabbath, he was hunting, or 
fishing, or haunting the tavern. And now 



Eve. 8.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY. 161 

Mrs. Hannah More. 

you would scarcely think he knows how 
to read ; for if you ask him any question about 
history, or about the places where the mis- 
sionaries live, or about any of the biographies 
of good men, you will find him as ignorant, 
almost, as a child. 

1 suppose he does not even know that there 
ever was such a man as Henry Martyn, or 
John Newton. Beside the knowledge gained 
on the sabbath, by reading, much is gained 
from attendance on preaching. 

Airs. Hannah More, whom we read about 
last week, says she used to read a great 
many religious books on the sabbath. She 
says she read Lowth, and Atterbury, and 
Warburton, and Baxter, and Doddridge, and 
Jeremy Taylor, and many more. 

I have heard it said that the taste of a peo- 
ple is often like that of their pastor. I see no 
reason why this should not be so, as well 
as that the taste of George, and Charles, 
and Susan, should resemble that of their fa- 



162 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 8. 

The sanctuary a school 

ther or mother. What we hear or see of- 
ten, we are very apt to imitate. And I have 
no doubt that people will imitate, more or 
less, the manners, and tones of voice, and 
expressions of their minister, as really as- 
that children will imitate these same things 
in their parents. 

I have seen the statement that you could 
distinguish the members of a certain parish, 
where there had not been any minister, for 
a great many years, by the tones of their 
voice, and the manner of their pronuncia- 
tion. 

Think too, how it will sharpen the in- 
tellect, to listen so often to sermons which 
are well arranged, and full of sound and lo- 
gical argument. I love to look at the house 
of worship, as a place where the mind is 
strengthened and disciplined, by the same 
services which purify the heart and fit the 
suul for heaven. It is a common schooL 
From this school none need be excluded. — * 



Eve. 8.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY. 163 

for all classes. 

The poor and the rich are all in the same 
class — are all taught the same lesson, and 
may all make the same progress. We shall 
see the value of this school, if we reflect that 
in some countries, a large part of the peo- 
ple have no opportunity of getting knowledge, 
except on the sabbath. 



164 



EVENING IX. 

SABBATH NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY. 

I BEGAN to show you, my dear children, in 
our last conversation, that the sahhath is fit- 
ted to promote intelligence in the community. 
We will converse about the same subject, a 
few minutes, this evening. 

There would be no sabbath schools with- 
out the sabbath. Children go to their schools, 
chiefly to learn th ur duty to God, and the 
way to heaven But beside this, the scholars 
learn a great deal about history, chronology, 
geography, and the manners and customs of 
ancient nations. 

Many children, even in this country, would 
never know how to read, if they were not 
taught in a sabbath school. — Their parents 
feel unable to clothe them, and send them ta 
the common schools, or else they are ignorant, 
and do not know the. value of knowledge. 
These unfortunate children often live far 



Eve. 9.J SABBATH NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY. 1 65 

Sabbath Schools. 

away from villages and churches, in poor cot- 
tages on the mountains, or in the distant val- 
leys. But they are sought out by the kind 
and benevolent teacher. They are clothed, 
they are supplied with books, they are taught 
to read, and they soon feel that they may be- 
come respectable and useful. 

I know a young lady who watches the chil- 
dren and youth in the galleries of the church, 
to see if there are any that do not go to the 
sabbath school. When she notices any such, 
she finds out their names, and invites them 
to join the school. — Not long ago, she found 
in this way, a female seventeen or eighteen 
years old, who could not read even a letter. 
She persuaded her to go to the sabbath 
school, and promised to give her a Bible. — 
For a few weeks, the family with whom the 
scholar lived, were obliged to read the lesson 
to her, and she remembered as much of it as 
she could. But she was so anxious to learn 
the lesson without aid, that she studied dili- 
gently, and before a great while, could read 



166 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 9. 

Sabbath School Libraries. 

a chapter in the Bible very well. And then 
she could read the books in the sabbath school 
library ; for the poor can get books from the 
sabbath school libraries, which are useful and 
profitable to read during the week, as well 
as to study on the sabbath. 

In this, and in many other ways, the sab- 
bath tends to level the distinctions among 
men. It tends to unite the rich and the poor. 
It tends to keep the rich from being proud and 
insolent, and the poor from being ignorant, 
and from hating the rich. It binds society 
together in love and harmony. 

There are many such cases in this coun- 
try, as that I have just mentioned, and more, 
I suppose, in England and Ireland. Not many 
years ago, a ragged, ignorant, wicked boy, 
was wanderiner about the streets of London, 
on the sabbath. — He was persuaded, by some 
kind teacher, to go lo the sabbath school.—- 
At first, he was not a very promising scholar, 
but the tec*?cher was patient. I suppose the 
teacher remembered that God bears long with 



Eve. 9.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY. 167 

Young Milne. 

US all, and does not quickly cast us off as 
though we should never become any better. 
Young Milne, for that was his name, at last 
began to love his lesson, then he began to 
love his Saviour, and soon he began to love 
the heathen. — He wanted to do them good, 
and to teach them to love the Saviour, and 
be fitted for heaven. So he went to China, 
and afterwards to Malacca, and was one of 
the most devoted and successful missionaries, 
in modern times. 

Charles, I think, mother, the books in 
the sabbath school library, are very inte- 
resting, and I love to read them very much. 

Mrs. 31. There were but few such books, 
when I was at your age, Charles. I should 
have been very glad to get almost any of 
the excellent little books, which you bring 
home from the sabbath school. I knew 
scarcely any thing about the geography of 
the Bible, when I was young. I used to 
read about Jerusalem, and Samaria, and 



168 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 9. 

Discipline of the Sabbath 

Gaza, and Beer-sheba, but 1 did not know 
where these places were situated. — I knew 
they were somewhere in Asia, but I could 
not point them out on the map, as Susan 
can. — Indeed, I did not have any map to 
show the situation of places mentioned in 
the Bible ; and I suppose I might never 
have had any, but for the American J^unday 
School Union. I fear, my children, that you 
will not value, as you ought, the privileges 
you enjoy, because they are so many, and 
so easy to be obtained. 

Susan. Did you not always know, mother, 
where Jerusalem is.? 1 am sure I always 
knew — for I cannot remember when I did 
not know where it is. 

Mrs. M. Think, my child, of what the 
Bible says, '' Unto whomsoever much is given, 
of them much will be required." 

But men must be govf^rved, as well as edu- 
cated. And the sabbath is fitted to aid in 
governing men, who live together in society. 



Eve. 9.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY. 169 

very conducive to the peace of society. 

If they cast off the fear of God, and love to 
one another, and are not willing to do what 
is right, how will you govern them 1 

Charles. I would make laws, and then 
threaten to punish them severely, if they 
broke the laws. 

3Irs. M. You cannot govern men in this 
w^ay, if they do not fear God, and love one 
another, and are not willing to do what is 
right. They hope you will not find out when 
they do wrong, — for the laws cannot see, and 
you who make the laws, are not always pre- 
sent. They can do wrong when you are 
asleep, or when you are absent, or when the 
world is covered with night. 

And if you think they have done wrong, 
they must be tried, before you can punish 
them. And they hope they shall be able to 
bribe the witnesses, or deceive the judges and 
the jury. — They always hope, in some way, 
to escape punishment, if they break the 
laws. 

Charles, Well, then, if I could not govern 



170 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 9 

Those who hate the Sabbath 

men by laws, I would try to g'overn them by 
armies. 

Mrs. M. You collect a large military force, 
I will suppose. All over your kingdom are 
officers, in their military dress, and soldiers 
with their swords and bayonets. I5ut you 
cannot govern men so, when they cease to 
fear God, and to love one another, and to be 
willing to do what is right. — France tried it, 
but she did not succeed. She declared there 
is no God, and no hereafter, and that death 
is an eternal sleep. She said there should be 
no sabbath, and she blotted it out. — And then 
men began to murder one another, and to 
hate one another, and to commit all manner 
of wickedness. Millions, I suppose, were 
killed, in a very few years. No one was safe, 
man, woman, or child. — There was no fear 
of God in the land, so it was full of murder, 
and theft, and perjury. At length, they were 
obliged to have a sabbath, one day in ten, 
and to own that there is a God. They had 
finally to return to their old practice, and k^ep 



Eve. 9.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR THE BODY. 171 
have not the fear of God before their eyes. 

one day in seven. You cannot govern men 
who live together in society, by military force, 
without the fear of God, and the love of one 
another, and a willingness to do what is right. 

Charles. I do not know how I could go- 
vern them then, mother. 

Mrs. M. See, now, how easily men can 
be governed, when there is a sabbath to make 
them fear God and his law. They learn 
that God is every where — that he seeth 
through the thick darkness, that they cannot 
escape the notice of his eye, and that in the 
court where they will hereafter be tried, they 
can neither deceive nor bribe the judge. — 
They are told this, from sabbath to sabbath, 
in their childhood ; they are told it in their 
youth ; they are told it in manhood ; they are 
told it in old age. When the heart is softened 
by prayer and praise, in God's house, they 
are charged, by the joys of heaven, and by the 
pains of hell, to avoid sin, and obey the laws. 

Do you think we could live happily to- 
gether, if George was not kind to his brother 



172 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 9. 

Influence of the Sabbath 

Charles, and to his sister Susan, and if Charles 
and Susan were not grateful to their parents, 
and if your father and I did not love you all ? 
But human laws cannot make George kind, 
nor Charles and Susan grateful, nor your 
parents affectionate. There are a great many 
more such things, without which men could 
not live happily together, that human laws 
could no more make men do, than they can 
bind the sun. You may persuade men to be 
courteous and temperate, and industrious, and 
forgiving, by what the Bible tells them, on 
the sabbath, but you cannot force them to be 
so, by human laws. 

All the wicked deeds which men commit, 
come forth from the heart. But human laws 
cannot look into the heart, and see what is 
passing there. Murder may live in the heart, 
many years, but human laws will not know it, 
and cannot prevent it. Fraud may lay his 
plans there, month after month, but human 
laws cannot stop his work. Envy may sit 
and pine away in the heart, and ambition 



EVE.9.J SABBATH NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY. 173 

better than the restraint of law. 

may form schemes of treason there, with- 
out any check from human laws. Men may 
chase the lion to his den, but they cannot en- 
ter in and slay him. 

But the law of God searches every hiding 
place of the heart. It breaks up the plans of 
g-uilt. It drives forth every thing impure 
from the soul, as the money-changers were 
driven from the temple. Human laws only 
try to purify the streams, but the law of God 
cleanses the fountain. 

It is easy, therefore, you see, to govern 
men, when the sabbath makes them fear 
God, and love one another, and wilHng to 
do what is right. How admirably fitted is 
the sabbath, to aid in governing men who 
live together in society. 

George, I think, mother, that the people 
of the United States ought to regard thie 
sabbath, more than any other nation. 

Mrs. M. Why do you think the sabbath 
ought to be so much regarded, in the United 
States 1 

12 



174 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 9: 

Morality is the foundation 

€fmr^e. Because, mother, I have often read 
that morality is the foundation of a repvbli' 
can government, and I think that the sabbath 
pro7notes morality. 

Mrs. M. Without good morals, a repub- 
lic like ours cannot long exist. The French 
once tried to have a republican government, 
but they: were too immoral, and their govern- 
ment lasted only a little w^hile. 

The sabbath, as you say, promotes good 
morals, and so is fitted for a republican go- 
yernment. I. suppose there is not a more 
moral country in the world, than New-En- 
gland has been, for two hundred years. And 
there is no country in the world, where the 
sabbath has been kept better than here. The 
Scotch are a very moral people— but the 
Scotch have kept the sabbath more strictly 
than any other nation in Europe. In France, 
Spain, and Italy, the sabbath is a day for 
shows, and amusements, — for visiting, and 
military parade. New-England and Scot». 
land are far more moral than these coukit. 



Eve. 9.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY. 175 



of a republican government. 



tries. No nation in the world is moral and 
sober, where the sabbath is despised and 
trampled on, and made a day for mirth and 
sports. The committee of the British Par- 
liament, before referred to, say it appears in 
evidence, that in each trade, in proportion to 
its disregard of the Lord's day, is the im- 
morality of those engaged in it. A Scotch 
writer says, that in 1763, his countrymen 
were decent, dignified, and delicate in their 
manners, but that in 1783 they were compa- 
ratively loose, dissipated, and licentious. One 
great reason for the change is, that in 1763 
they kept the sabbath much more strictly 
than in 1783. 

Now let us look among those who break 
the laws, and are punished, and see whether 
they were accustomed to keep the sabbath. 
Scarcely a criminal is hung, who, if he says 
any thing about his wickedness, does not 
confess that it began by breaking the sabbath, 
^ou remember, George, our visit to theo 



176 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 9. 

f^ Richard Baxter. 

v_ ■ — 

State prison. There were almost two hun- 
dred prisoners. Some of them were old and 
gray-headed, and some of them were young 
and almost children. One boy was only a little 
older than Charles. I did not ask him whe- 
ther his mother taught him to keep the sab- 
bath, but I think she did not. 

Charles. I hope I never shall be put in 
the state prison, for my mother teaches me 
not to break the sabbath. 

Mrs. M. I hope you will not, Charles- — 
but remember what the Bible says, " Let him 
that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he 
fall ;" and feel as a good man once did, 
when he said respecting himself, while a 
criminal was passing by to the gallows, 
*^ There, but for the grace of God, goes 
Richard Baxter.'' 

But mothers cannot take a better course, 
if they wish to fit their children for the 
state^prison, and for the gallows, than to suf- 
fer them to violate the sabbath. O how the 



Eve. 9.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY. 177 

Three fourths of convicts, Sabbath breakers. 

heart of that little boy's mother must ache, 
if she ever sees him shut up at night, alone? 
in his dark cell. 

The chaplain of the state prison, who talks 
with the prisoners, and learns all about their 
character, and what they have done, says that 
out of every hundred confined there, not far 
from ninety have been accustomed to disre- 
gard the sabbath. At the Charlestown pri- 
son, in Massachusetts, out of two hundred 
and fifty-six prisoners, one hundred and 
eighty had lived in a general violation of 
the sabbath. I suppose, therefore, that at 
least three-foarths of the criminals, or seven- 
ty-five in every hundred, who are hung, or 
sent to the state prisons in New-England, 
are habitual sabbath breakers. 

I think it will not be claimed that more 
than one person in ten in Connecticut, might 
properly be called an habitual sabbath brea- 
ker. I do not suppose there is more than 
one in twenty or thirty. But allow that there 
is one in ten. Then the habitual sabbath-- 



178 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 9' 

Our Sabbaths the best. 

breakers, in proportion to their number, 
ought to furnish one tenth of the criminals, or 
ten in every hundred. Whereas they furnish 
seventt/'Jive in a hundred. This is more than 
seven times their proper share. Well might 
the learned Blackstone remark, that a cor- 
ruption of morals usually follows a profana- 
tion of the sabbath. 

So you see that the sabbath favours mo- 
rality, and is, therefore, well fitted to a re-- 
publican government, which cannot last long, 
when the people cease to be virtuous. George 
said truly that the people of the United 
States ought to regard the sabbath, more 
than other nations regard it. 

But there is another reason why our na- 
tion should be very anxious to preserve the 
sabbath. I do not suppose that any of you 
have thought of it. 

George. What is it, mother ? 

Mrs. 31. There is not any other nation^ 
I think, which has so good a sabbath as we 
kave in the United States. We have not ra- 



'fevE. 9.] SABBATH NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY. 173 

Some Sabbaths scarcely worth having. 

ceived from our forefathers, a French sab- 
bath, to spend in sport, and shows, and mili- 
tary reviews. Our sabbath is a good old 
English sabbath, or rather, I might say, a 
good old Puritan sabbath, without the gloom, 
which to some extent, perhaps, was given to 
it by our forefathers. I scarcely know whe- 
ther a French sabbath would be worth hav- 
ing. I think it mi^'ht do as much harm as 
good. 

And not only is our sabbath better than 
any other on earth, hut a better use can be 
made of it. A larger part of our people can 
read the Bible, and understand it, than in 
most other countries. The sabbath, too, will 
do good or hurt, according as the doctrines 
which are impressed upon the mind, on that 
day, are true or false. If our people were 
to go to the temple of idols, and burn sa- 
crifices on the sabbath, the day would be a 
curse to the nation. Or if they were to 
go to Mahomedan mosques, and worship 
there, the sabbath would be of very little 



180 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. Si 

The Sabbath of the United States of value. 

value. And were they to spend the day in 
Roman Catholic cathedrals, hearing prayers 
in a language they cannot understand^ and 
listening to sermons on the worship of re- 
lics, or on prayer for the dead, or to the 
virgin Mary, the sabbath would be almost 
a lost day. But when the pure truths of the 
Bible are taught, as in the United States, 
in the house of God, in the sabbath school, 
and in the family circle, the sabbath is of 
inestimable value. 

No nation could lose so much as ours by 
losing the sabbath. It is the aqueduct 
which conveys the waters of salvation 
through our land, and none but an enemy 
to our liberty, as well as to our souls, will 
attempt to destroy it. If other nations, then, 
neglect the sabbath, we should guard it as 
we guard our life. If other nations despise 
the sabbath, we should esteem it as one of 
the choicest gifts of heaven to our country^ 



181 



EVENING X. 

MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 

There are a few things more, my dear 
children, which I wish to say to you about 
the sabbath, before we finish our conversa- 
tions. I have shown you that God intended 
the sabbath to be kept by all, in every age, 
and in every part of the world. I have 
shown you that it is very kind in God to 
sanctify the sabbath for man, because the 
sabbath is so well fitted for man's nature and 
condition. This evening, I wish to converse 
with you about the manner in which the 
sabbath ought to be kept. 

Let us see what the fourth commandment 
tells us about keeping the sabbath. The 
first thing which it tells us to do, is to re- 
member the sabbath day to keep it holy. 

We must remember that it is the day which 
God has sanctified for himself, or we shal^ 



182 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. lO- 

Sabbath to be kept from duty. 



not be apt to keep it holy. We must not 
look at the sabbath, only as a day which it is 
expedient to keep, but as a day which God 
has commanded us to keep. 

We must remember that the sabbath was 
made for man, and that he needs it. We 
must not think it only a day which it may be 
well enough to keep, but which may be neg- 
lected without any injury to the body, or to 
the mind, or to the welfare of the soul. 

We must remember how kind God is in 
giving us the sabbath, when so many others 
do not know that there is any sabbath. 

We must remember how many are not per- 
mitted by their masters, or by those who em- 
ploy them, to keep the sabbath, while we 
may enjoy a day of holy rest. 

We must remember that God requires us 
to keep the day holy. To keep it holy is to 
devote it to those purposes for which God has 
set it apart. 

We must remember that God will require 



BvE. 10.] MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 183 



Lord's day. 



of US an account of our sabbaths, and how 
we have kept them, and whether they have 
done us any good. 

We must remember above all, the great 
object of the sabbath is to renew our souls, 
and fit them for God's service, and for an 
endless sabbath above. For why is the sab- 
bath called the LorcTs day, except that our 
Saviour arose on that day ? Our Saviour 
from what I First of all, our Saviour from 
sin. And why was the sabbath changed from 
the seventh to the first day of the week, if 
not because the Saviour arose and ascended 
to heaven on that day, having finished the 
work of redeeming man from sin and death. 
The light of every sabbath should remind us 
that we are sinners, who need salvation 
through Christ Jesus. If we forget this, we 
shall not remember the sabbathday to keep 
it holy, as God designed. 

We must remember too, that the sabbath 
furnishes special opportunities to improve 
^ur hearts, and to secure the salvation of 



184 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 10. 

Reflections for the Sabbath 

our souls. We must feel our need of salva- 
tion, and must use those means which the 
sabbath offers, with a sincere desire to be- 
come holy. 

We must remember that our sabbaths, in 
this world, will soon come to an end, and 
that we must use them as they are passing, 
or they will all quickly be gone, and our souls 
will be lost for ever* 

We must remember how many sabbaths we 
have mispent and wasted in sin ; and show 
that we are penitent, by employing the pre- 
sent, and all future sabbaths, in a better 
manner. 

We must remember that these earthly sab- 
baths are but a beginning of the eternal rest, 
to all who do the will of God, and trust in the 
Lord Jesus Christ. We must think of the 
good, in every age, who have rejoiced in the 
earthly sabbath, and are now rejoicing in 
the sabbath of heaven. And we must re- 
member that if we are Christians, when 
i.nother sabbath returns to the earth, our 



Eve. 10.] MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 185 



continuedi 



soulv^j may be joining in the songs of the re- 
deemed, before the throne of God. And we 
must remember — yes, my dear children, we 
must remember, that if we are not. Chris- 
tians, if wo have not repented of sin, if we 
have not trusted in Christ, if we have not 
made our peace with God, if we have not be- 
gun to be holy in heart, when our friends and 
neighbours, on another sabbath, shall meet 
in the house of prayer, we may be wailing 
among- the lost spirits in the regions of eter- 
nal sorrow. 

If we remember these things as we ought^ 
we shall be likely to engage in a proper man- 
ner, in the duties of God's holy day. 

What, then, are these duties ? The fourth 
commandment lays a foundation for them, 
by requiring all to rest from their comjnon 
labours. The man who works with his hands, 
during the other six days, must not work 
with his hands on the sabbath. The Tman 
who works with his mind, during the other 
six days, must not think on the same sub- 



186 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 10. 

How Sabbath should be kept. 

ject on the sabbath. Whether labour is bo- 
dily or mental, during the other six days of 
the week, it must cease on the sabbath. ^^Six 
days shalt thou labour and do all thy work ; 
but the seventh is the sabbath of the Lord 
thy God ; in it thou shalt not do any work.'^ 
The first duty, on the Sabbath, is to rest 
from our common business. 

But though the sabbath requires men to 
rest from their common work, it does not re- 
quire them to be idle and stupid. No, the 
sabbath ou ght to be a busy day ; that is^ 
every part of it ought to be occupied with 
some duty which will make the heart better; 
some duty which falls in with the design of 
€rod in sanctifying the sabbath. 

George. May not people sometimes re- 
lax their minds, on the sabbath, mother I 

Mrs. M. I do not suppose that every one 
ought to be thinking closely, or reading all 
the while on the sabbath, when he is not en- 
gaged in the public or private worship o^ 
Qod, or in some similar duty. Some p^v^ 



Eve. 10.] MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 187 

Invalids. 

sons may be feeble, and need more relaxa- 
tion on the sabbath, than others. They 
will do right if they take such relaxation as 
their ill health requires. But they ought al- 
ways to remember, that the great object of 
the sabbath is to sanctify their souls ; and 
they should relax their bodies and their 
minds, only because they can, in this way, 
best accomplish the design of the sabbath. 
Those who work hard and late on Saturday, 
because the sabbath is comiig, and they 
can then sleep, profane the day by such 
r^st. They have no right to overw^ork their 
bodies on Saturday, and then try to recruit 
them on Sunday. It is robbing the soul, it 
is breaking the sabbath, in the sight of God, 
as really as if they were at work. For it, 
is taking a portion of the time which God 
has reserved for his own use, and employing 
it for our worldly purposes. 

Another of the duties of the sabbath is 
social or public worship. I have already told 
you that social worship is fitted to the naturo 



188 "CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 10. 



We honour the Sabbath by public worship. 



and wants of man. It warms his affections 
before they grow cold, and quickens his teed 
when it becomes faint and languid. 

This was one of the duties required of 
the Jews on the sabbath. " Six days shall 
work be done, but the seventh day is the 
sabbath of rest, a holy convocation," (Lev. 
xxiii. 3.) A holy convocation means a solemn 
assembly for the public worship of God. The 
heathen used to assemble and worship their 
idols. And men, at the present time, when- 
ever they wish to show great honour to 
any day, meet and mingle their feelings to- 
gether on that day. This is the reason why 
they assemble to celebrate the fourth of 
July, or the birth-day of Washington. They 
animate each other, by uniting in the cele- 
bration, and singing the same songs. I do 
not mention these examples, my children, 
for the sake of approving of every thing 
which is done on such occasions, but only 
to show that when men wish to manifest 
respect for any person, or for any day, they 



Eve. 10.] MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 189 



How the Jews worshipped God. 



often assemble together, just as God com- 
manded the Jews to meet and worship him, 
on the sabbath. Good men among the Jews 
loved to meet for social worship. They 
said, " How amiable are thy tabernacles, O 
Lord of hosts ! Blessed are they that dwell 
in thy house ; they will be still praising 
thee. For a day in thy courts is better 
than a thousand; I had rather be a door- 
keeper in the house of my God, than to 
dwell in the tents of wickedness. My soul 
thirsteth for God, for the living God ; when 
shall I come and appear before God ] Thea 
will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my 
exceeding joy. O come, let us sing unto the 
Lord ; let us make a joyful noise to the Rock 
of our salvation. Let us come before his 
presence with thanksgiving, and make a joy- 
ful noise unto him with psalms. O come, let 
us worship and bow down ; let us kneel be- 
fore the Lord our Maker. I was glad when 
they said unto me, let us go into the house 
of the Lord." 

13 



190 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. la 

Jesus Christ attended public worship. 



I suppose men who felt thus, would not 
wait for a eommand to go and worship God, 
any more than I should wait for a command 
to love George, and Charles, and Susan ; or 
than an epicure would wait for a command 
to sit down at a table loaded with dainties. 
It was a privilege to David, and Asaph, and 
other holy men of that day, to worship God 
in his temple, and in the congregation of the 
righteous. If God would permit them to 
worship him in public, they would account it 
tiieir ^^ exceeding joy.'' I suppose a cloud, or 
a slight shower, would not have been thought 
excuse enough for not joining in the ^' holy 



convocation." 



The Bible tells us that it was the ^' custom?^ 
of Jesus Christ, when on the earth, to attend 
public worship in the synagogue. And the 
apostles used to meet with their converts, and 
worship God on the sabbath. They com- 
manded men, not to forget the " assembling 
of themselves together,^ as the manner of 
aorae" wcis^ even so earlyo. But men had 



Eve. 10.] MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 191 

Public worship once attended with danger- 

more excuse at that time, than we have for 
neglecting- social worship. A person might 
lose his life if he met with the church of 
Christ, to worship God, and adore the Sa- 
viour. But notwithstanding the danger, Paul 
told those to whom he wrote, they must not 
forget to unite in social worship. The an* 
cient Christians would meet in tombs, and on 
board of ships, and in caves, and at mid- 
night, rather than give up the privilege of so- 
cial worship, even when they knew that they 
were watched, and if discovered, might be 
burnt at the stake, or be torn in pieces by 
wild beasts. I suppose one of the^se Chrig- 
tians did not, on the morning of the sabbatbj 
think, that if it was a little cold, or rnight be 
rainy, or he did not feel very well, he might 
be excused from social worship. The Holy 
Spirit has blessed social worship to the salva- 
tion of millions. Probably more have been 
brought to reflect on their ways, and to repent 
and turn to God, in consequence of public 
\yorship, than from any other cause. And a^ 



192 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. ICr. 

Public worship preserves a knowledge of the Bible. 

the present day, very few become pious and 
humble Christians, who have lived in the 
neglect of public worship. 

But for public worship, a large part of man- 
kind would know very little of the doctrines 
of the Bible ; for the name of God, and even 
the knowledge of God itself, would cease 
from the earth. 

Good men still love the public worship of 
God. When sick, they long to be able to 
join in the prayers and praises of God's house, 
and they grieve that they cannot go with the 
multitude who ^keep holy day. And when 
health returns, they regard it as a delightful 
privilege to pay their vows unto the Lord, in 
the presence of all the people. 

George. I remember that you read to us, 
the other evening, in the life of Mrs. Hannah 
More. She said the sabbath was not only her 
day of rest, but her day of enjoyment — and 
that she went to church twice on the sab- 
bath. 

Mrs. M. When you find a Christian begin- 



Eve. 10.] MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 193 

Its effects on the pride of man 

ning to neglect public worship, without any 
good reason, you may be almost sure that he is 
growing worldly. If he ever regains his Chris- 
tian feelings, he will be found in his place in 
the house of prayer. And while the tear of 
penitence flows down his cheeks, he will say 
in his heart, ^' I have gone astraj^ like a lost 
sheep. Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for 
the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." 

Public worship tends to make men feel 
how vain are the distinctions of rank, and 
wealth, and fashion. '' The rich and the poor 
meet together," in the house of God. The 
worshippers have all one Father, and one 
Saviour. They have common sins to con- 
fess, and common wants to be supplied. They 
have similar temptations to overcome, and 
need the sanctifying influences of the same 
Spirit. All are bound to the same grave, 
and all the pious to the same heaven. The 
man of wealth is taught that however high 
his place is in the house of God, riches will 
not purchase him a seat at God's right hand* 



1§4 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 10. 



Some preparation necessary 



The man of learning is taught that holiness 
is accounted better than knowledge, among 
the spirits of heaven. The fashionable and 
the gay are taught how much the robe of im- 
mortality outshines the brightest garments, 
of earth. 

But public worship will not be pleasing to 
God, or profitable to men, without some pre- 
paration. Before we go to church, we must 
pray for the blessing of God ; we must read 
the Bible ; we must feel that God is in his 
holy temple. The man who goes up to the 
sanctuary, thinking of his worldly business;, 
his accounts, his clients, his crops, his ships, 
must not expect to hold communion with his 
Maker. Can the child, or the youth, expect 
a blessing, who goes to church, not to worship 
God, but to show a new dress, or see some 
companion or friend 1 

I have known children laugh and play, 
and be light-minded, during social worship. 
The blazing eye of God was fixed steadily 
on them, and I feared, every moment, they 



"RvE. 10.] MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 195 



to worship God in public. 



would be struck dead beneath his awful 
power. I shudder when I see little children 
thoughtless and inattentive in the house of 
God. He is the same now, as when he 
came down on Sinai in cloud and tempest, 
and he has told us that ^^ holiness becometh 
his house for ever." And though fire does 
not break out and devour them, as it devour- 
ed Nadab and Abihu, still they cannot safely 
trifle with God's worship. He knoweth how, 
the Bible tells us, to reserve the wicked 
"unto the day of judgment to be punished." 
It is painful to see these little children lifting 
up their puny hands, like hardened rebels, in 
bold defiance of their Maker. 

People in the country sometimes live too 
far from church, to return home between 
the morning and evening services. These 
often profane the sabbath, by collecting into 
little groups, and talking about party poli- 
tics, and the news. The children and youth 
sometimes wander into the fields, or into the 
woods, and profane the sabbath by gathering 



196 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. m 

How some boys spend Sabbath noon. 

berries or nuts, or stealing fruit from gardens 
and orchards. Some wicked boy may usually 
be found among them, whose example and 
conversation will do more hurt, in one hour, 
than the labours of many Christian mothers 
can repair, during a week. If the sabbath 
school did nothing but keep children from 
profaning the sabbath, between the morning 
and evening services, I have often thought 
this would be worth all the trouble and ex- 
pense of sustaining it. 

I think, however, that there is less playing 
and inattention among children, during pub- 
lic worship now, than there were many years 
ago. They have learned in the sabbath 
school, to understand the minister better, 
and he often makes his sermons more simple 
and plain, for the sake of the children. 

Susan. I remember, mother, our minister 
said, once, that when he saw children whis- 
pering or playing, in meeting, he always 
thought they did not go to the sabbath 
school; for if they did, they would learn 



Eve. {10.1 MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 197 

Sleeping during service. 

to fear God, and respect his day and his 
house. 

Charles. Is it any worse, mother, for chil- 
dren to play, than for their parents to sleep, 
during public worship I 

Mrs. M. Children never have any excuse 
for playing" in meeting, my son. But there 
is here and there a person who cannot keep 
awake, during the whole service, on the sab- 
bath. They have a disease, called the le- 
thargy, which always makes them sleepy, as 
soon as they sit down ; no matter whether 
at home, or abroad — W'hether they are alone, 
or in company with their friends. Such per- 
sons I pity, for they cannot help being sleepy, 
and God will not mark it down against them 
as a sin, when they do all they can to keep 
awake. 

There are others, however, whom God 
will not excuse for sleeping at church, while 
they ought to be engaged in his worship, or 
listening to his gospel. Look, on some sab- 
bath, at a congregation of worshippers,— 



198 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 10. 

Farmer Hughes. 

There is a man, leaning his head on the front 
of the slip. He is fast asleep. The minister 
is urging his hearers to awake to righteous- 
ness, for the end of their probation is at hand. 
But farmer Hughes is in a sound slumber, 
and does not hear a word. 

George. Farmer Hughes is not a poor 
man, mother, and obliged to w^ork hard. 

Mrs. M. No, my son, he is one of the 
richest men in the town. He owns a great 
deal of land, and is continually buying more. 
But he tells people that he cannot keep 
awake at meeting, because he is in debt, 
and must work very hard, during the week, 
to pay for his land. 

Yonder is another healthy looking man, 
mocking God, and discouraging the minister, 
by sleeping during the sermon. That is 
Mr. Dickman, the blacksmith. 

He has a fine set of customers, and is one 
of the most thriving men in the place. But 
he, too, is obliged, he says, to work so hard 
diiring the week, that he must stay at home 



Eve. 10.] MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 199 



Mr. Mortimer. 



and rest on the sabbath, if you will not ex- 
cuse him for sleeping a little in the house 
of God. 

Who is that chang-ing his seat so often, to 
keep from drowsiness ] That is Mr. Morti- 
mer, the merchant. He is always sleepy 
when he eats a hearty dinner — and you must 
excuse him, if he cannot help being drowsy 
on the sabbath. 

Charles. But I think, mother, that Mr. 
Mortimer, the merchant, had better eat a 
little less, on the sabbath, than on other 
days, if he cannot keep awake at meeting. 

Mrs. M. I think so too, Charles — but 
Mr. Mortimer thinks differently. He must al- 
ways have a better dinner on the sabbath, than 
on other days, — for he cannot attend to his 
business on that day, and so has leisure to 
see company. He makes his domestics stay 
away from church in the morning, to prepare 
dinner for himself and friends — and then he 
is drowsy during the whole service, if he 
comes to church in the afternoon. But he 



200 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve.IO. 

Self-examination. 

does not come very often. I think if Mr. 
Mortimer knew he was to plead for his life, 
he would be careful not to eat so rich a din- 
ner. And if he felt, as he ought, that he was 
to plead, at church, for the life of his soul, he 
would not compel his domestics to violate the 
sabbath, for the sake of getting him a dinner, 
which only makes him drowsy and stupid. 

It grieves me to think how plainly all these 
men show that they prefer their business to the 
worship of God ; their bodies to their souls ; 
and their money to salvation. 

Self' examination is one of the duties to 
which we are invited by the sabbath. This 
is a duty which cannot be neglected, safely, 
by any one, and there is no season so fit for 
it, as the sabbath. George, and Charles, and 
Susan, need to spend a part of the sabbath in 
self-examination, as well as their parents. 
They should examine their conduct for the 
past week, and see what they have done 
which is wrong; and then they should re- 
solve to do better, the week to come. Have 



Eve. 10.] MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 201 

How to be conducted. 

they obeyed their parents cheerfully, in every 
thing'! Have they been kind to each other, 
not speaking a harsh v^ord, or giving an un- 
kind look, or indulging an unkind feeling 1 
How have they treated their playmates! 
Have they been proud and haughty tov^ards 
theml Have they envied any of their play- 
mates "! Have they w^anted any of their books, 
or pictures, or playthings I Have they obeyed 
all the rules at school, and tried to please their 
teachers, and to get their lessons v^ell 1 Have 
they yielded to temptation to deceive, or to 
tell a falsehood l Have they vi^ished to get 
above their classmates, and been sorry to 
have them do better than they I Have they 
neglected their duties to God? Have they 
omitted secret prayer and reading the Bible f 
These, and similar questions, children should 
ask themselves every sabbath. And if they 
find they have failed in duty, as they certainly 
will find, if they examine their hearts and 
their conduct faithfully, they must be peni- 



202 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 10. 



The Sabbath best time for it. 



tent for it before God, and pray for grace to 
avoid such sins in future. 

All need to examine their hearts and lives, 
often and carefully ; for without doing- it, they 
will never know what are their faults, or what 
is their character, and their prospects for eter- 
nity. One of the greatest blessings of the 
sabbath, is, that it gives a season for attend- 
ing to the necessary duty of self-examination* 



203 

EVENING XL 

MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 

We will continue our conversation, this 
evening, about the manjner of keeping the 
sabbath. 

Private devotion, reading and meditation 
make a part of the duties to be performed on 
the sabbath. They ought, especially, to fol- 
low the worship of the sanctuary. It will do 
us little good to join in public prayer and 
praise, and hear a sermon, if we go home and 
converse about improper subjects. Some 
persons,^ when they return from church, con^ 
verse about the dress worn by their neigh- 
bours, or what acquaintances they have met, 
or what strangers they have seep Others 
spend a good deal of time in criticising the 
sermon. It is too long, or too short ; too 
practical, or too doctrinal ; too plain, or too 
elegant. They are rarely just suited. This 
habit of finding fault, destroys all the good 



204 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 11. 

The Sabbath affords time to servants. 

which public worship might do them, or the 
younger members of the family. It is a bad 
practice, and ought to be abandoned at once. 

Much better would it be for them to go to 
their closets, as soon as they reach home, and 
pray that what they have heard may do them 
good ; thatlhey may not forget it ; that it may 
fit them to perform duly, to bear trials, and to 
resist temptations, during the week. If their 
minds are made serious by the public ser- 
vices, they ought to pray that their serious- 
ness may continue; and if they have formed 
any good resolutions, that they may have 
grace to keep them. 

Many persons would know little about the 
Bible, if they had not leisure to study it on 
the sabbath. Persons employed in factories, 
day labourers and domestics, often cannot 
devote as much time to the study of the Bible, 
as the afood of their souls demands. 

George. But do not these persons need to 
rest on the sabbath \ 

Mr^^ M. One end of the sabbath is rest to 



SvE. ll.J MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 205 



Change of exercise. 



the body and the mind, and we ought not, 
when we can avoid it, to get weary and fa- 
tigued, on the sabbath. But persons who 
work with their bodies daring the week, can 
rest while they read the Bible, and think upon 
serious things. A change of labour is some- 
times a refreshment. A man who is tired of 
one kind of exercise, can often engage in 
another, without feeling weary. It is a plea- 
sure for one who has been hard at study all 
day, to cut wood, or walk, or ride on horse- 
back- So a man who has been wearied by 
bodily labour, can exercise his mind without 
fatigue. And God has so made the mind, 
that when men are weary by thinking of one 
kind of subject, they can often think of ano-- 
ther, without feeling weary. A distinguished 
judge, in a neighbouring state, used to study 
mathematics to refresh his mind, when he 
had become weary with thinking about some 
difficult point of law. 

George. I do not see how thijs can be, 
mother. 

14 



206 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. It 



The brain the organ of the mind. 



Mrs. M. If we could not explain it, my 
cl^ild, we might believe it is so, on good evi- 
dence, just as we believe a thousand other 
things which we cannot understand. You 
remember I told you that the mind uses the 
brain for thinking, just as it uses the eye for 
seeing, and the limbs for walking. Now 
learned men, who have examined the brain, 
soy that it is divided into several parts, and 
that the mind uses one part when it wishes to 
think about one subject, and another part, 
when it wishes to think about another sub- 
ject. You have two arms ; when you have 
used one of them until it is tired^ you can let 
it rest, and use the other. So when the part 
of the brain which is used for the study of 
law, becomes weary, it can rest, while the 
part which is used for the study of mathe- 
matics, may be made to work. 

Whether what these persons say of the 
brain is true or not, there is a great variety in 
the duties of the sabbath. Persons in health 
i^ill not often be in danger of getting weary^ 



Eve, ll.J MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 207 



Many helps to the study of the Bible. 



if, when they are tired of one duty, they set 
about another. 

T remember when most people had very few 
books to read on the sabbath, but the Bible. 
There were not many commentaries in the 
land, and there were among the common 
people no maps and books, to explain the 
customs, and manners, and antiquities of 
the ancient nations, vvhich are so often men- 
tioned in the Bible. There was only here 
and there a religious biography, and there 
were no religious periodicals to give infor- 
mation about the kingdom of Christ. I sup- 
pose you wonder how w^e could contrive to 
make the sabbath interesting and profitable. 

It is strange that parents take so little 
pains to get books to aid their children in the 
study of the Bible. Scarcely any are so poor 
that they could not afford the trifling expense. 
When there were only a few books in the 
world, and those few were very dear, a learn- 
ed man advised his friend to sell one of his 
eyes and buy a certain book, and read it with: 



208 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [EvE.lt 

Division of society into families 

the other. Without any such sacrifice, pa- 
rents might furnish their families with all 
the books necessary to explain the Bible. 

Family instruction is another interesting 
duty on the sabbath. 

You may regard mankind as separated into 
three great divisions. One division is that of 
individuals. In this division every man stands 
by himself. The second division is that of 
families. This division includes several indi- 
viduals, w^ho live together under the same roof. 
The third division is that of communities. 
This division is made up of a greater or less 
number of families, living under the same go- 
vernment and laws. 

The division into families was made in the 
garden of Eden, at the same time when God 
sanctified the sabbath. The sabbath is fit- 
ted tol^is division of men into families, and 
tiiis^vision of men into families is fitted to 
l^eMbbath. Like twin sisters, each aims to 
^ottiole the welfare of the other. 

It ^?s?D^tild be very strange, therefore, if. 



EvR 11.] MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 209 

recognised — the commandments. 

when God gave the ten commandments, he 
had forg-otten or overlooked this early division 
of mankind into families, which he had him- 
self made. Nor did he forget or overlook it. 
The first three commandments point out 
men's duties to God. The last five point out 
men's duties to the community in which they 
live. The fourth and fifth commandments 
point out specially, men's duties, as they live 
together in families. The fourth command- 
ment, to be sure, includes social worship, and 
the fifth includes the obedience which men 
owe to rulers as well as parents. The 
fourth commandment has been fitly called 
a ^' Family commandment.'''' It mentions 
the parts of which families are composed 
more particularly, than any other com- 
mandment of the ten. 

Except in the hours of public worship, the 
bonds which bind families together into com- 
munities are dissolved, on the sabbath. It is 
as if the world was made up only of families, 
and there was no other society. The duties 



210 : CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve, llv 

Effect of the Sabbath 

which men owe their families, are very im- 
portant and interesting*. If children are not 
governed, in the family, they will grow np 
restless and ungovernable. If they are wick- 
ed and irreligious in the family, they will be 
apt to continue wicked and irreligious all 
their days. I suppose that a large part of 
those who become pious, become so while 
they are children, and living under their fa- 
ther's roof. If the duties of the family are 
neglected, societies cannot be happy, and 
prosperous, and moral. 

God has devoted a considerable portion of 
one day in seven, to these important duties 
of the family. On other days, the labourer 
is obliged to be absent from his family, a 
great deal, and sometimes he must be absent 
the whole week. The mother is occupied 
with many cares, and cannot instruct her 
children so much as she wishes ; and the 
children too, are often either abroad at workj 
or at school, or too fond of play to attend to 
instruction. But the sabbath comes. The 



Ev£. 11.] MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 211 

on parental government. ^ 

poor man returns to his home. His family 
gather around him. The children, who were 
too playful to listen to what their mother told 
them, are now quiet and attentive. They see 
none of their companions on the green, 
trundling* the hoop, or knocking the ball. It 
is the hour for parental influence and coun- 
sel. Those who love the souls of their chil- 
dren, will not let it pass unimproved. The 
father can now, without hurry or interrup- 
tion, teach his children about their duties to 
God, their own souls, and to on€ another. 
While he sets them an example of devoting 
the sabbath to religious duties, he can exhort, 
and if necessary, command them to reverence 
God's holy day. He will teach them some 
good catechism, and explain it in a simple 
and cheerful manner. As evening approaches, 
he will call his family together, and read a 
sermon, or a chapter in the Bible. Then he 
will pray for a blessing on the public and 
private duties of the sabbath, for the pre- 
sence of God through all the unknown scenes 



212 CHILD^SBGOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. m 



Remembrance of former Sabbathso 



of the coming' week, and for a union, at last^ 
with the redeemed, in the purer worship of 
the tipper world. 

The memory of my early sabbaths i« dea^ 
to me. But I remember no part of thom with 
more interest and tenderness, than the close 
of the day. When the shadows began ta 
gather, a beloved father, now 1 trust among 
the just in heaven, would call us together,, 
read a sermon, or a chapter in the Bibte, and 
then offer a family prayer. I can rememberj^ 
as if it were only yesterday, the very texts, 
and the very feelings of my conscience and 
my heart, as I listened to the pungent dis- 
courses of President Edwards, and others o€ 
a similar character. The recollection of 
these scenes often makes my soirit more 
tender than the most solemn truths, which 
I now hear on the sabbath. And even then, 
when my heart had been thoughtless during 
the worship of the house of God, those scenes 
in the family, which closed our sabbath^, 
would affect my mind too deeply to be for-- 



Eve. II.] MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 21 S 

The fourth commandment particular. 

gotten through the whole week. When I 
think of my childhood, I cannot but feel, that 
of all seasons for the instruction of children^ 
the family circle, at the close of a sabbath 
spent in the house of prayer, is the best. Let 
the scene be cheerful, but let it, too, be seri- 
ous. Cheerfulness will make it pleasant at 
the time ; and seriousness will fix it in the 
mind for many years to come. 

God knew that many men would not love 
to keep tbe fourth commandm(int themselves, 
and that they would not be willing to let their 
children, and their domestics, and their beasts 
that labour, rest on the sabbath. Sa God did 
not only say in the commandment, me7i shall 
not worky but thau shalt not do any work, 
thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter. Every 
parent is bound, not only to rest himself, but 
to let his children rest on the sabbath. When 
they leave home to learn a trade, or to be- 
come clerks in stores, or to attend school, or 
to bo domestics in families, he is bound to see 
that they have the privilege of keeping the 
sabbath. And if he places them where they 



214 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. IK 



Domestics. 



are not permitted to keep the sabbath, he 
breaks the command, as much as if he 
were to labour himself on his farm, or in his 
shop, during- holy time. 

Domestics have a claim to rest on the sab- 
bath, so far as is consistent with the comfort 
of a family. '^ Thou shall not do any work, 
thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy 
man-servant, nor thy maid-servanto" While 
resting themselves, and letting their children 
rest, men ought to be careful to see that their 
domestics not only have an opportunity to 
keep the sabbath, but that they spend it in 
a proper manner. I would not keep a do- 
mestic from public worship, a part of the day, 
as some do, for the sake of getting a warm 
dinner, and much less to prepare for com- 
pany. And when some of the family must 
stay at home, it is wrong to make domes- 
tics stay more than their share. They ought 
to be willing to take their turn ; but to make 
them do more than that, is a violation of the 
fourth commandment. 

^^ Thou shalt not do any work, nor thy cat- 



Eve. 11.] MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 215 

Cattle. 

i/d." The apostle asks, ^^Does God take 
care for oxen ?" Yes, my children, he does, 
for his tender mercies are over all his works. 
Beasts that labour all the week need rest, as 
well as man. And as the poor, patient ox 
had no voice to urge his claim, God wrote it 
down in the commandment, that oxen have a 
right to rest on the sabbath. Beware how 
you deprive them of this right, for God takes 
the part of the weak against the oppressor. 
We may use horses to carry our families to 
public worship, and for similar purposes, 
which are consistent with the design of the 
sabbath. But a merciful man will consider, 
whether it would not be well to let a horse 
rest, at some other time, while he employs 
a large part of the sabbath for these ne- 
cessary purposes. I remember hearing that 
a gentleman, on a visit to his friend, I think 
in Ireland, was surprised to see all the horses 
feeding in their stalls, on Saturday. As 
this was quite unusual, on other days, he in- 
quired the reason. His friend told him, that 



216 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Enc. II, 

An Irish gentleman. 

as they lived a long distance from church, he 
could not let his horses rest on the sabbalh ; 
so he gave them the day of rest, to which 
they had a right, on Saturday. He was a 
merciful man. 

But let me remind you, my children, at 
the close of our long conversation, on the 
manner of keeping the sabbath, that it will 
be of no use to perform the duties I have 
mentioned J without a proper spirit. You 
may break the sabbath while doing them alL 
If the heart and life are examined, without 
a desire to grow better ; if the Bible is read 
only out of curiosity, or to see how many 
chapters may be read over in a day ; if public 
worship is attended only from custom, or to 
see a friend, or because it is popular \ if you 
pray and meditate only to quiet conscience, 
God will frown on your services, and a day 
will be lost, in which your soul might have 
been fitted for glory, honour, and immor- 
tality. 

And without a proper spirit, the sabbath 



Eve. 11.] MANNER OF KEEPING THE SABBATH. 2 17 

Feelings appropriate to the Sabbath. 

will be as uripleasant, as it is unprofitable. 
Its duties will be burdensome, and you will 
say in your heart, *' When will the sabbath 
be gone ?" But if you have the spirit of the 
sabbath in your soul, you will think its pre- 
cious moments fly away too swiftly. You 
will almost wish to stop the sun in his course, 
as he descends towards the western moun- 
tains, and the shadows of evening begin to 
lengthen. You will feel with the poet, as you 
breathe the pure air, and enjoy the tranquil 
light of the sabbath. 

Day of all the week the best 
Emblem of eternal rest. 

With such a spirit, the sabbath will never 
be a weariness. We shall greet it with a 
cheerful welcome, as it approaches ; we shall 
spend it in joy and praise while it is passing, 
and when we must part, bid it an unwilling 
farewell. 



tl8 



EVENING Xir. 

VIOLATIONS OF THE SABBATH. 

I WISH to converse with you a little while 
this evening, my dear children, about viola- 
tions OF THE SABBATH. 

George. How can we know, mother, when 
we do break the sabbath'? The command- 
ment says we must not do any work, but you 
have told us that we may work some. You 
said domestics must not be made to work 
more on the sabbath, than is necessary for 
the comfort of the family. The command- 
ment says that '^cattle" must not work, on 
the sabbath, but you have told us it is right 
to make horses carry us to meeting. How 
do you know that such things are right ? 

Mrs, M. Such things are allowed in the 
Bible, Our Saviour said his disciples had 
done right in plucking corn on the sabbath, 
when they were hungry. We conclude from 
this case, that it is right to prepare food for 



Eve. 12.!] VIOLATIONS OF THE SABBATH. 219 

What we may do on the Sabbath. 

the purpose of satisfying our hunger on the 
sabbath, or to do other things necessary for 
our health and comfort. Our Saviour him- 
self ate on the sabbath, and from his example 
we conclude that we may do the same. But 
this does not authorize us to spend the day 
in feasting. 

As to using our horses for carrying us to 
the house of worship, we think the Bible 
justifies us in this too. The priests in the 
temple killed the lambs for sacrifice, on the 
sabbath. But our Saviour says they did not 
sin in doing this. It was a part of religious 
worship. If any of the other Jews had killed 
lambs on the sabbath, for their own use, it 
would have been a violation of the fourth 
commandment. We think that this exam- 
ple justifies us in doing, on the sabbath, the 
labour which is necessary to prepare us for 
divine worship, and which cannot be done 
before the sabbath comes. We think, too, 
it allows us to use our cattle for the same 



220 CHILD^S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 12. 

Spirit of the commandment. 

purpose, and that it is right therefore, to 
employ them in carrying our families to the 
house of God. 

I suppose every thing may be done that 
is consistefit with the design for which God 
sanctified the sabbath. 

This design, as I have already told you, 
is that men should rest from their common 
business on the sabbath, whether they labour 
with their bodies or vi^ith their minds. Beasts 
that labour, are also to rest on the sabbath. 
This rest for beasts can be only for their bo- 
dies, but for men there is a higher design than 
this. God means that men, while ceasing 
from labour, shall have leisure to refresh their 
minds, and make their hearts better, by the 
public duties of his house, and the private 
duties of the family and the closet. He 
means that men shall become more serious, 
humble, heavenly-minded, devoted, and pray- 
erful, by keeping the sabbath. Every thing 
which falls in with this design of God, in giv- 



Eve. 12,] VIOLATIONS OF THE SABBATH. 221 

Rules for observance of the Sabbath. 

ing men the sabbath, may be done on that 
day. And every thing which hinders this de- 
sign, must be avoided. 

George. This nde would be enough to guide 
us in many cases, but there are some cases, 
I think, where we might still be in doubt. 

Mrs. M. Well then, my son, I will give 
you another rule. Avoid doing any thing on 
the sabbath, when you are doubtful whether 
it can be done without violating the fourth 
commandment You will be safe in letting 
it alone, while to do it may be sinful. 

The small pox is infectious. If you go too 
near, you will be very likely to catch it. I 
do not know just how near you can approach 
it, and be safe. Suppose, now, you were pass- 
ing in the neighbourhood of a house where 
several persons are sick of the small pox. 
And suppose you knew, that if you kept ten 
rods distant, you would be out of danger 
from the disease. Suppose, too, that you 
did not know but you might safely go within 
two rods — what would you dot 

15 



222 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. H, 

Doubtful cases. 

George. Why, mother, I do not wish to 
have the small pox, and should be sure to keep 
at least ten rods from the house. 

Mrs. M. Just so, George, you should do 
in regard to violating the sabbath. Some 
things it is very plain that you may do, on 
the sabbath. Some things it is quite as 
plain that you must not do. And about 
some other things, perhaps, there might be 
a little doubt- You should act in regard to 
these doubtful things, just as you do about 
keeping at least ten rods from the house 
infected by the small pox. You should en- 
tirely avoid them— then you will be sure of 
not breaking the fourth commandment. 

I will show you what I mean, by some 
examples. It is doubtless right for you to 
ride to meeting from your home, on the sab- 
bath. It is as clearly wrong, without any 
necessity, to travel on a journey upon the 
sabbath. But a man who lives thirty miles 
off, owes you a debt, and is about to fail. 
You may lose your debt if you wait till. 



Eve. 12.] VIOLATIONS OF THE SABBATH. 223 

Cases compared, 

Monday- Perhaps you begin to ask yourself 
if it may not be right for you to get your 
horse and go and secure your debt, on the 
sabbath. It is a doubtful case, you say. If 
then, you ask my advice, I counsel you not 
to venture too near the infected house. Keep 
at a safe distance. Better lose your debt, 
than violate the sabbath, and lose your soul. 
It would be clearly wrong for a man to 
leave his home, in Hartford, on sabbath morn- 
ing, and, without any other reason than to 
gain a day for business, go to New- York in a 
steam boat. It would, I think, be as clearly 
right for him to go to New- York on the sab- 
bath, if his wife, or his father was at the 
point of death, in the midst of strangers. 
But, now, suppose he is in New- York, and 
does not wish to be absent from his family, 
on the sabbath. So he deliberates with him- 
self, whether he had not better take the steam 
boat, on the afternoon of Saturday, and reach 
Hartford early on the sabbath morning, be- 
fore meeting. If he were to ask my advice3. 



224 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. n 

Case of a farmer. 

I would say, do not venture yourself on board 
that boat. I think it is a manifest violation 
of the sabbath. You may say you are in 
doubt. Run not the hazard then, of violat- 
ing the fourth commandment. You v^ould 
not run the hazard of violating the sixth 
commandment, and becoming a murderer. 
Why run the hazard of becoming a sabbath 
breaker ! Keep far off from the infected 
house. Another man has a fine field of 
wheat. Just as the crop is ready for harvest, 
it begins to rain. The rain continues seve- 
ral days. The wheat begins to sprout. The 
sun shines pleasantly on sabbath morning, 
for the first time in several days. The man 
asks if he shall take his sickle, and go into 
the field and reap the wheat, that his family 
may not suffer for want of bread. 

George. I think, mother, that he might go, 
and not break the sabbath. 

Mrs. M. Plainly, it would not be right for 
him to work always on the sabbath, even in 
harvest time. The Jews were commanded 



Eve. 12.J VIOLATIONS OF THE SABBATH, 225 

Case of a fire. 

not to work on the sabbath, even to gather 
in their crops. Six days shalt thou work, 
but on the seventh day thou shalt rest ; in 
earing time and in harvest^ thou shalt rest. 
It is as plain, I suppose, that if the man had 
gathered in his crop, and his barn was on 
fire, he might try, on the sabbath, to put out 
the fire. But between these cases which are 
plain, comes the man with his field of dama- 
ged wheat. What shall we tell him 1 You^ 
it seems, George, would tell him to go and 
gather his crop. I should not dare to tell 
him so. I fear his field would be too near 
the infected house, to be safe reaping. In 
other words, the case is very doubtful, if not 
plainly wrong. 

George. But the man says he is poor, and 
cannot afford to lose the crop. 

Mrs. M. Yes, but if it is wrong, can he 
not afford to lose his crop, as well as to of- 
fend his Maker, and perhaps lose his soul \ 
Do you not remember what the prophet said, 
wh^n the king of Judah hesitated to obey the 



36 CHILD^S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 12. 

Amaziah. 

command to send away the mighty men of 
Israel, whom he had hired to fig'ht for him, 
at the expense of a hundred talents of silver I 

George. Noj» mother, I do not remember 
it. What did he say ? 

Mrs, 31. Amaziah said to the prophet^ 
^' But what shall we do for the hundred talents 
which I have given to the army of Israel ?'' 
The prophet replied, '^ The Lord is able to 
give thee much more than this.^'' Amaziah 
thought he could not afford to obey God ; but 
the prophet told him, God is abundantly able 
to reward those that make present sacrifices, 
to obey his commands. God is able to give 
this poor man much more than his field of 
wheat, if he trusts God, and keeps the fourth 
commandment. Besides, what has the man's 
property to do with not obeying God ? How 
rich must a man be, to become under obliga- 
tion to obey the ten commandments'? 

George. But, mother, would it be right for 
the man to let his wheat be spoiled ? We 
ought not to be wasteful^ and is it not a 



Eve. 12.] VIOLATIONS OF THE SABBATH. 227 

We don't know all God's designs. 

waste to let a fine crop of wheal be injured, 
so as to become unfit to eati Why did God 
make the crop grow, if he did not mean to 
have the man reap it, and gather it into his 
barn t 

Mrs. M. God may design that he shall 
gather it into his barn, if he waits until 
Monday. Or God may have let the wheat 
grow so finely, to see whether the man would 
obey his commandment to keep the sabbath 
day. It would not be so much of a waste, to 
let the wheat rot on the ground, as to diso- 
bey God. Because the wheat has grown up, 
it is not certain that God ever intended it 
should be gathered. It is his wheat, and he 
will do with it as he pleases. How many 
times do the rains destroy crops, and the 
whirlwinds scatter them to the four quarters 
of heaven, and the lightnings consume them, 
after they are gathered into the barn '? It is 
plain that God does not intend to have all 
the crops collected for the use of man and 
beast, which he causes to spring up and ripen. 



228 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 12- 

Should not gather 

And no one can tell whether he has designed 
the crop, of the poor man for this purpose. 
If God does not afford him a time for gather- 
ing his crop, it is plain that he never design- 
ed it should be gathered, and the poor maix 
must be submissive, and trust God to provide 
for him and his family, in some other way. 

George, I think now, mother, that the 
poor man ought to let his crop alone on the 
sabbath. It is, at least doubtful, whether he 
might properly gather it, and so on your 
principle he had better let it stand till Mon- 
day. But, mother, you said that if the crop 
was already gathered, and his barn should 
take fire on the sabbath, he might try to put 
out the fire, and save his crop and his barn. 
Why might he do this, any more than gather 
it into his barn, when it was in danger af 
spoiling ? 

Mrs. M. First, If the man were to put 
off gathering his grain, he does not know 
but it may be gathered just as well on the 
morrow. Cases have been known where a 



Eve. 12.] VIOLATIONS OF THE SABBATH. 229 

a crop on the Sabbath. 

part of the people of a town gathered in their 
grain on the sabbath, and it was injured, be- 
cause it was damp, while the others, wha 
waited until Monday, had fine weather, and 
gathered in their crops without injury. The 
chance is quite as good for securing th^ 
crop on Monday, as on the sabbath. At 
any rate, it may be as good, and so it is 
daubtful whether the work i 3 necessary. But 
the case of the burning barn is different. 
If left to burn only a few minutes it will cer- 
tainly be lost. It is necessary to put out the 
fire immediately, or it cannot be done at all. 

Secondly. To gather in the crop of wheat 
will take nearly, or quite all the day. But 
to put out the fire will take, probably, but 
a very little time. Dr. D wight, who, on the 
one hand, was not bigoted, and, on the 
other, not lax, says, ^' That necessary work, 
which requires but a moment, may be law- 
ful ; when it would become unlawful if it 
required an hour.'' 

Thirdly. It is more dangerous to allow that 



230 CHILD'S BO0K ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 12. 

Two rules for the 

men may go into the field and work on the 
sabbath, when it appears to be necessary, 
than that they may try to prevent the flames 
from consuming their houses or barns. For 
these fires occur very rarely, whereas harvest 
comes every year. 

There is no diflSculty in knowing when a 
fire is dangerous to a building, but it would 
bo exceedingly diflficult for an honest man al- 
ways to judge when there was real danger 
of losing his crops, if he did not gather 
them on the sabbath. 

But it would be especially dangerous, 
because when men had once learned to la- 
bour on the sabbath, even in doing what they 
think necessary, they would soon learn to la- 
bour for gain, without any pretence that it is 
necessary. In the case of fires, there is no 
danger of this kind. 

If you remember, my children, the two rules 
I have mentioned, you will not be in much 
danger of violating the sabbath. What is 
agreeable to the design of God in sanctify- 



Eye. 12.] VIOLATIONS OF THE SABBATH. 231 

right observance of the Sabbath. 

ing the sabbath, you may do. But if you 
are doubtful whether any thing* is agreeable 
to this design, let it alone. 

Charles, When 1 spent a sabbath with 
Uncle John, a few months ago, he talked 
about politics, almost all the while — was this 
right, mother 1 

Mrs. M. No, my son, I do not think it at 
all right. Try it by our rule. Would it 
make any one more heavenly-minded and 
prayerful to spend the sabbath in talking 
about politics ? Far from it. 

We are tempted to break the sabbath by 
improper conversation, more than in almost 
any other way. We should not dare to 
work in a shop, or upon a farm, on the 
sabbath — for we should think it very sinful. 
But while families are setting together on 
the sabbath, how common it is for some 
one to speak about the weather. Then ano- 
ther tells of some person who is sick, or has 
been hurt by accident. Another talks about 
some kind of business, or, perhaps, about 



232 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 12. 

Should not speak our own words, 

the eloquence of some favourite preacher. 
A part of the family are pious, perhaps, and 
dislike such conversation ; but they know how 
unwilling the rest are to hear any thing about 
religion, and so they join in violating the sab- 
bath. They ought to begin to talk on some 
serious subject, and if they cannot do that, 
to retire to some other room. The least 
they should do is to be silent. The Bible 
promises a blessing to those who do not speak 
their " own words," on the sabbath. By their 
^' own words," is meant, words which are 
about worldly and improper subjects. 

Susan. But, mother, if we do not talk 
about such subjects on the sabbath, may we 
think about them in our hearts ? 

Mrs. M. No, my child, it is as wrong to 
think about worldly subjects on the sab- 
bath, as to talk about them. The Bible for- 
bids us to find our '^ own pleasure," on the 
sabbath — that is, to think about our business, 
or our amusements, or our plans for enjoy- 
inent. Susan broke the Sabbath, to-day, 



Eve. 12.] VIOLATIONS OF THE SABBATH. 233 

or think our own thoughts. 

when I overheard her telling Charles about 
the good things she should have to eat, and 
the fine clothes she should wear, when she 
went to keep thanksgiving with her aunt 
Mary. 

Susan. I am sorry, mother, I thought about 
so foolish and wicked things, on God's holy 
day. 

Mrs. M. Ask God to forgive you, my 
child, and to make you more like those who 
keep the sabbath in heaven. 

George. Is it right, mother, to read his- 
tories and such books, on the sabbath ? 

Mrs, 31. Try it by our rule. You once 
broke the sabbath by reading Hume's His- 
tory of England, while your parents were at 
church. Did it make you any more serious, 
and prayerful, and heavenly-minded ^ 

George, O no, mother. And I never mean 
to be so foolish and wicked again, for I could 
not say my prayers at night, I felt so guilty. 
But, mother, will you tell us what books we 
may read on the sabbath. 



234 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 12. 

What books to read. 

Mrs. M. You can read the Bible, and re- 
ligious biographies, and sermons, and the se^ 
rious books which you get from the sabbath 
school library. There are hundreds and 
thousands of such books — but it would take 
too long to mention their names. When you 
are not acquainted with a book, you had better 
ask your father or mother, before you begin 
to read it, whether it is a proper book for the 
sabbath. But if you cannot do that, remem- 
ber the rules I have given you about keep- 
ing; the sabbath. A book is fit to be read on 
the sabbath, which makes the mind serious, 
and solemn, and devoted, and prayerful, and 
which falls in with the design of God in set- 
ting apart the day for his own service. This 
will very soon settle the question in most 
cases. 

George. But there are some books which, 
when you try them by this rule, you wilt 
scarcely know whether they are fit for the 
sabbath, or not. What shall we do then ? 

Mrs. M. Then you must remember the 



Eve. 12.] VIOLATIOJSTS GF THE SABBATH. 236. 

Going to the Post Office- 

Other rale, not to do any thing on the sab- 
bath, the propriety of which you think is 
doubtful. Lay the book down, and do not 
toach or think of it again, until the end of 
the sabbath. 

George. Is it right, mother, to go to the 
Post Office on the sabbath morning, as some 
of our neighbours do, and get their letters. 

Mrs. M. People might just as well go 
out into the fields and work, or into their 
counting rooms and post their books, as to 
take their letters out of the office on the sab- 
bath morning. If there was no other objec- 
tion, it would be enough to show it is wrong, 
that it obliges the Post Master, or his clerk, 
to do needless work on the sabbath. But be- 
side this, it makes those who get the letters 
'^ think their own thoughts.^'' Their letters 
are on business, or on friendship, and gene- 
rally make them more worldly, rather than 
serious, heavenly-minded, and prayerful. 

George. But if one is expecting to hear 
from a sick friend, who needs his assist- 



236 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 12. 

Case of a sick friend. 

ance, might he not go to the Post Office, 
then 1 

Mrs. M. If he could do his sick friend 
any good by getting the letter, which he 
could not do by waiting until the sabbath 
closes, then it would fall in with the design 
of the sabbath, to get his letter. Christ said 
it is right to help an ox or an ass out of the 
ditch, on the sabbath. So it is right to re- 
lieve pain and sickness, on the sabbath. It 
would not be right for a man to go out 
into the fields to look at his flocks of cattle 
and sheep on the sabbath, under the pre- 
tence of seeing whether an ox had not fallen 
into the ditch. So it is not right for a man to 
go to the Post Office after letters of business, 
under the pretence of getting news about a 
sick or dying friend. 

Men cannot in such things, deceive God, 
and they do not, very often, deceive each 
other. The motive is so plain that a child 
may discover it. 

George. But when a man is on a jour- 



Eve. n.] VIOLATIONS OF THE SABBATH. 237 

A noisy public house. 

ney mother, and puts up on Saturday night, 
at a very noisy house, is it not right for him 
to travel the next day, if he can attend 
meeting on his way ? 

Mrs. M. No, my child. His horse has a 
right to rest on that day. And it is no ex- 
cuse for travelling, that the house is noisy. 
He ought to stay, and set the people a bet- 
ter example, and teach them not to violate 
the sabbath. He has an opportunity to do 
good, in this way — and he had better do it, 
than sin against God by violating the sabbath. 

George. But is it not right, mother, for 
people to work on the sabbath, if they have 
to get their support by their business, and 
their employers refuse to hire them, unless 
they will work during holy time, when others 
are at rest. You remember when we were 
on our journey, last summer, in the state of 
New-York, a stage-driver said he did not 
like to work on the sabbath. He said he 
could never go to meeting, and he did not 
love to live in this way. But he said that 

16 



^38 CHILD'SIBOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve, m 

Government has no right 

as the owners of the stages would have 
them run on the sabbath, he might as well 
drive as any body else, for he must earn a 
living" by working. 

Mrs. M. I remember the man, and what 
he said. I pitied him, and I should not wish 
for the money which he earns for himself, 
on the sabbath, or for that which he earns 
for the stage owner who hires him. It is 
the price of blood — not the blood of the body, 
but the blood of the soul. The man's ex- 
cuse, however, was not a good one. He had 
better starve, than live by violating one of 
the ten commandments, every week. God 
can take care of the man, if he puts his trust 
in him. God says in his word, '^ Trust in 
the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in 
the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.^' And 
the excuse is good for nothing, that he might 
as well break the sabbath, as any one, since 
the sabbath would be broken. He might 
as well say that he would kill the rich man, 
who is alone in the ^stage, and get his mo- 



Eve. 12.] VIOLATIONS OF THE SABBATH. 239 

to break the fourth commandment. 

ney ; for if he does not kill the man and get 
the money, somebody else will. If some- 
body else will break the sabbath, and make 
God angry, or commit murder and be hung 
for it, this is no reason why we should be so 
foolish and wicked. 

Charles. But, mother, the government or- 
der the stages to run, to carry the mail, on 
the sabbath, and Uncle John says they have a 
right to do this, if they please. 

Mrs. M. Have the government a right to 
repeal the second commandment, and say 
men may be idolaters; or the third command- 
ment, and say men may blaspheme the name 
of their Maker; or the sixth commandment, 
and say men may kill every body they meet 1 

Charles. O no, mother, that would be 
wicked enough. I think government would 
have no right to tell men they may do such 
things ; and it would not be right for men 
to do so, if government told them they might. 

Mrs. M. Where, then, did government 
get the right to repeal the fourth command^ 



240 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. I^. 

Governments should not oblige its subjects to sin. 

ment, which says, *' thou shalt not do any 
work, thou, nor thy cattle." 

Charles. I do not know, mother, and I do 
not think that Uncle John could tell me, 

Mrs. M. Government has no right to au- 
thorize men to violate the sabbath, and men 
will find it no excuse, hereafter, that govern- 
ment said that they might trample upon the 
divine law. Governments are only men, and 
they will have enough sins of their own to 
answer for, without bearing the sins of those 
they have encouraged to rebel against God. 

Before closing our conversation, I will men- 
tion a principle which learned men have 
taught, respecting works proper to be done 
on the sabbath. It agrees with what I have 
told you this evening. I hope you will com- 
mit it to memory. '^ We may, on the sab- 
bath, do those works of charity and mercy, 
which we could not do before the sabbath, 
and which cannot be put off till the end of 
the sabbath, without showing a want of mercy 
and benevolence." 



341 

EVENING XII L 

MOTIVES FOR KEEPING THE SABBATH. 

We will converse^ to night, my children, 
about the motives which should lead ris to 
keep the sabbath. 

And, George^ what is the best reason you 
can think of for doing any thing 1 

George. Why, mother, I can think of no 
better reason for doing any thing than the 
command of God. I suppose there can be 
no better reason for doing any thing, than 
that God commands it ; or for not doing any 
thing, than that he forbids it. 

Mrs. M. Then we have the best of all 
reasons for keeping the sabbath holy ; for 
we have seen, in these conversations, again 
and again, that God commands all men, where- 
ver the Bible comes, to remember the sab- 
bath-day, and to rest from all their labour. 

Can you think of any other reason, George, 
for keeping- the sabbath ] 



242 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. W. 

Command of God sufficient. 

George. I do not think any other reason 
is necessary, if men felt as they ought ; but 
I suppose that if they can see what God com- 
mands them is for their good, they may obey, 
sometimes, more cheerfully. 

Mrs. M, It ought to be enough to make us 
do what God commands, that he commands 
it. We must believe it is right, and proper, 
and for our good, whether we can see that it 
is so or not. But God is very kind and gra- 
cious, and many of his commands, he lets us 
see, are fitted to our nature and condition. 
This I have shown you is true of the fourth 
commandment. If God bad not told us we 
must keep one day in seven, we ought to keep 
it, for our own good. Here, then^ is another 
reason for keeping the sabbath. 

When I tell you to go on an errand for me, 
Charles, do you think you ought to go be- 
cause I command you ? 

Charles, Certainly I do think I ought to 
go, mother, because you love me so well, and 
because you do so much for note. 



I&VE. 13.] MOTIVES FOR KEEPING THE SABBATH. 243 

But we have promises. 

Mrs. M. And if 1 should tell you^ Charles, 
that as you had been studying your geography 
and your Latin all the afternoon, the exer- 
cise would do you good, would that, too, be 
a reason why you should be willing to go on 
the errand for me I 

Charles. Yes, mother. 

Mrs. M. Now, Charles, if I were to pro- 
mise you, that if you did the errand fajthfully> 
1 would read to you an hour in the evening, 
from some interesting book in your father's 
library, would that make you do your errand 
more quickly and faithfully 1 

Charles. I do not know that it ought, mo- 
ther ; but I should think you very kind in 
promising to reward me for doing what you 
had a right to make me do without any re- 
ward. And I love so well to sit down in the 
evening and hear you read history, that I 
should run all the way to the place to which 
you sent me, and back again. 

Mrs. M. Then we have another reason 
for keeping the sabbath^ for God promises to 



244 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. la 

Liberty and the safety of our country 

bless those who keep it as they ought. '^ Bless- 
ed is the man that doeth this, and the son of 
man that layeth hold of it ; that keepeth the 
sabbath from polluting it." '' If thou turn 
away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing^ 
thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the sab- 
bath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honour- 
able, and shall honour him, not doing thine 
own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor 
speaking thine own words, then shalt thou 
delight thyself in the Lord ; and I will cause 
thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, 
and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob 
thy father : for the mouth of the Lord hath 
spoken it. 

If I should command Charles to do some- 
thing which had often saved his life, he would 
be very foolish, and very ungrateful, and very 
wicked, if he refused to do it. We have ano-^ 
ther reason^ then, why we should keep the 
sabbath^ in what it has already done for our 
country. Our forefathers were once heathen. 
They were heathen long since our Saviour 



Eve. 13.] MOTIVES FOR KEEPING THE SABBATH. 245 

depends on the observance of the Sabbath. 

came into the world, and the sabbath was 
changed to the first day of the week. They 
would have been heathen still, had it not 
been for the sabbath. This evening I might 
have been worshipping with you, at the tem- 
ple of some savage idol, or offering you as 
sacrifices to appease the anger of the gods. 
We can never be grateful enough for the 
gift of the sabbath. The man who thinks 
it unnecessary, or burdensome, to rest one 
day in seven, almost deserves to be turned 
back to a state of heathenism, and groan un- 
der its yoke, until he learns his obligations to 
the sabbath. 

The liberty and the safety of our country 
depend upon the observation of the sahbathy 
and this is a reason why we should observe 
it. I need only just mention this, fori have 
shown you, in former conversations, that no 
government, and especially no republican 
government, can last long without the sab- 
bath. One has well said, that, without the 



246 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH [Eve. 13^ 

Should be exemplary 

sabbath^ our nation would be like a furious 
giant, tearing in pieces himself, and every 
thing on which he could lay his hands. 

Another reason why we should be very 
strict in keeping the sabbath, at the present 
day, is that 7nany aroimd us are indisposed 
to keep it. It has been thought by some that 
our Puritan fathers were too strict, were 
gloomy, were superstitious, in their mode of 
keeping the sabbath. But they would have 
had no sabbath, without a great deal of strict- 
ness. Others all around them used to spend 
the day in sport, in morris dances, and at the 
ale house. Our ancestors would not join in 
such a violation of the sabbath. They want- 
ed that their example should reprove those, 
who, in this way, profaned the sabbath. And 
if our ancestors had not been so very strict in 
keeping the sabbath, we should be spending 
our sabbaths in sports and business. 

Those who wish to recover the sabbath 
from profanation, must, at the present day, 



Eve. 13.] MOTIVES FOR KEEPING THE. SABBATH. 247 

in observance of the Sabbath. 

be even more strict than they would be at 
other times, instead of conforming to the 
wishes and example of the wicked. 

The sabbath, if not well kept, will be a 
curse to the country. This is another reason 
for observing- il. There will long be a sab- 
bath of some kind, in the land, whatever may 
be the character of the people. They would 
not, at once, labour on the sabbath, even if 
they were to cease keeping the sabbath holy. 
They w^ould spend the day in gambling, in 
horseracing, in drinking at the taverns, in 
fighting, and in riot. The shops would con- 
tinue to be closed, for some hours on the 
sabbath. Factories would be shut; and the 
labourers, not having to work, would spend 
the day in dissipation and sin. Our coun- 
try must wither under the curse of such a 
sabbath as this, if it will not spend the day 
in rest, and in the worship of God. There 
is no other choice. All our blessings, when 
we abuse them, become curses, and none 



248 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 13. 

How Israelites kept it, 

more than the sabbath. This is a reason 
why we should keep it holy unto the Lord. 
The manner in which good men of other 
times, observed the sabbath^ and their testi- 
mony respecting its benefits, is another reason 
why we should keep it holy. The good men 
in Israel ioved and observed the sabbath. The 
ninety-second psalm was written as a song for 
the sabbath-day. Nehemiah would not suf- 
fer the men of Judah to labour on the sab- 
bath, in treading wine presses, or bringing 
in sheaves in harvest time, or in selling and 
buying food. Nor would he let the men of 
Tyre bring in fish or any kind of merchan- 
dise, into Jerusalem, on the sabbath. He 
ordered the gates of the city to be shut, 
^^when it began to be dark before the sab- 
bath,'' and threatened to lay hands on the 
Tyrian merchants, if they lodged without the 
walls on the sabbath. The Lord Jesus Christ 
kept the sabbath, with his disciples, when he 
was on the earth. The early Christians kept 
it as a day of sacred joy. 



Eve. 13.] MOTIVES FOR KEEPING THE SABBATH. 249 

and good men of modern times. 

In modern times, good men have alwaj^s 
loved and observed the sabbath. Sir Mat- 
thew Hale, one of the greatest judges, and 
best men that ever lived in England, urged 
his children to keep the .sabbath. He says, 
^^ I have found by experience, that the due 
observance of this day, and the duties of it, 
have been of singular comfort and advantage 
to mo, and I doubt not, that you, my children, 
will find it so to you. I have found by a strict 
and diligent observation, that a due observance 
of this day, hath ever joined to it a blessing 
upon the rest of my time ; and the week that 
hath so begun, hath been blessed and prosper- 
ous to me ; and on the contrary side, when I 
have been negligent of the duties of this day, 
the rest of the week hath been unsuccessful 
and unhappy to my secular employments. 
And this I do not say slightly, but upon a 
long and sound observation and experience.'^ 
The celebrated Dr. Johnson, the author 
of the Rambler, and of many other books, 
was one of the greatest scholars in the world. 



S50 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 13. 

Dr. Johnson and Sir J. Reynolds. 



He was very strict in keeping the sabbath. 
A lady once asked Dr. Johnson if he did not 
think the Dean of Derry a very agreeable 
man. He made her no answer. She re- 
peated the question. '^ Child," said he, ^^ I 
will not speak in favour of a sabbath breaker, 
to please you or any one else." 

When Dr. Johnson was on his dealh-bed, 
he sent for Sir Joshua Reynolds, a very cele- 
brated painter. After talking with him seri- 
ously for a long lime, Johnson told Sir Joshua 
that he had three favours to ask of him, and 
h(3 hoped he would not refuse a dying* friend. 
Sir Joshua said he would not refuse. The 
first request was " that he would never paint 
on a Sunday ;'' and the third, that he would 
read the Bible whenever he had opportunity, 
and that he would never omit it on the sab- 
bath. 

When the late Dr. Porteus, Bishop of Lon- 
don was sick of the disease of which he 
died, he heard a report that a club, or com- 
pany of men, had agreed to hold meetings 



Eve. 13.] MOTIVES FOR KEEPING THE SABBATH. 231 

Prince of Wales and Bishop Porteus. 

on the sabbath. This was not for worship- 
ping, but for mirth and enjoyment. The 
Prince of Wales, afterwards George the 
Fourth, Ring of Great Britain, was at the 
head of this club. The good Bishop was 
much grieved at the report, and requested 
to see the Prince. The request was granted/ 
and the day for the visit appointed. The 
Bishop was supported by two servants, and 
hardly able to move with their assistance. 
When he got to the apartment of the Prince, 
he begged him to fix on some other day 
for the meeting of the club. The Prince 
treated him very kindly, and seemed much 
affected. The Prince said that the club was 
meant for charitable purposes^ but if the 
day of the meeting could be changed to 
Saturday, it should. 

How often does Henry Martyn, the re- 
'fined scholar and the lovely Christian, speak 
of the sabbath ! How often he mentions its 
delights. On one occasion he writes, " Passed 
this Lord's day with great comfort, and pre- 
cious solemnity of soul. Glory to God for his 



252 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. ^ [Eve. 13. 

David Brainard. 

grace. Reading the scriptures and prayer 
took np the first part of the day. Almost 
every chapter I read was blessed to my soul. 
I felt as if I could never be tired of prayer." 

You v^rill find the same love of the sab- 
bath in the memoir of David Brainard. In- 
deed, eminent Christians could not live with- 
out the sabbath. 

With the examples of such men, my chil- 
dren, on your side, you never need be asham- 
ed to keep the sabbath, wherever you may be. 
Dare to be singular, if it is necessary for you 
ever to be in the company of those who break 
the sabbath. Let them ridicule your bigotry, 
as they may call it. I had rather you would 
be called bigots, for following the example 
of such men, than that you should be prais- 
ed for breaking the sabbath. 

One who keeps the sabbath, can do much 
more good to others, than if he neglects the 
sabbath. This is a reason why every person 
who wishes to be useful, should observe the 
sabbath strictly. It is not great talents so 
much as great piety, which makes men useful. 



EVE. 13.J MOTIVES FOR KEEPING THE SABBATH. 253 



David Brainard. 



It is not so much a clear and strong intellect 
as a warm, and affectionate, and humble heart. 
I suppose there have been a great many men 
in our country, who knew more than David 
Brainard and Samuel J. Mills, a great many 
men of much finer talents than they. But 
few men in our country have been so useful. 
And the reason is, that few men in our coun- 
try have been so pious. But a man who dis- 
regards the sabbath, will never be an eminent 
Christian. If we would be useful to others, 
then we must keep the sabbath holy unto 
the Lord. 

The sabbath too, is a sign of our fever 
ence for God, a visible sign, which all can 
easily understand. While others go on with 
their business or their pleasures, the man who 
keeps the sabbath, stops one day in seven. 
Why does he break off his labours and his 
amusements ! God has commanded him to 
" remember the sabbath-day to keep it holy." 
It is a visible mark of his reverence for the 
authority of God, and a reproof to all who 

17 



254 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. f^^vir. la 

Wilberforce. 

set at naught this authority. Men respect 
others for keeping the sabbath as God's 
day, just as they respect one who, in the 
midst of the profane and unprincipled, is not 
afraid to lift up his voice and say, " Thou 
shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God 
in vain ; for the Lord will not hold him guilt- 
less, who taketh his name in vain/' 

One might as well expect to convince others 
that he fears God, when he every day blas- 
phemes or trifles with his name, as expect to 
convince them that he at heart fears God, 
when he violates the sabbath. The man 
who breaks the sabbath himself, respects 
others who keep it, more than he does those 
who break it. And if he ever needs to in- 
trust the care of a child, or the care of 
money to others, he will intrust them sooner 
to those w^ho keep, than to those who break 
the sabbath. 

I have no doubt the late Mr. Wilberforce 
was much more useful, for his regard to the 
^abbath. He would not attend to business 



Eve. 13.] MOTIVES FOR KEEPING THE SABBATH. 255 
Mrs. Hannah More. 

on the sabbath, even to please the highest 
lord in the land. All felt that he was sincere 
in his religion ; and they loved and respected 
Wilberforce, even w^hile they would not love 
and respect the God whom Wilberforce 
adored, and the Saviour in whom Wilber- 
force trusted. 

No lady in England, perhaps, was ever 
loved and respected by the great and fashion- 
able, so much as Mrs. Hannah More. But 
she was a strict observer of the sabbath. 
When she was among the fashionable and 
the refined ; among statesmen and men of 
wealth, who disregarded the sabbath, she 
would still keep it holy. This was a con- 
stant memorial to her friends and acquain- 
tances, that she reverenced God. It was a 
constant testimony against their violations of 
the sabbath, and neglect of the service of 
their Maker. She was once spending some 
time on a visit to a friend. A fashionable 
circle were visiting the same family. Some 
one proposed; on the sabbath; to have music. 



256 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. la 

Garrick, the actor. 

She began to feel uneasy, when Garrick, the 
celebrated actor, who was one of the visiters, 
turned round and said, ^^ Nine,'' that was the 
name he generally gave her, *' You are a 
Sunday woman ; retire to your room, I will 
irecall you when the music is over." Her re- 
gard for the sabbath, gave her much power 
over the minds of the gay, the wealthy, and 
the noble. 

The sabhath is the great moving power of 
the moral world, and this is a reason why 
we should regard it, and keep it holy. I will 
explain what I mean when I say the sabbath 
is the great moving power of the moral world. 
You remember that on our journey last sum- 
mer, we stopped at a manufacturing village, 
and visited several large factories, which 
stood near each other, on the same stream. 
There were a great many v/heeJs moving very 
rapidly. Every thing seemed busy and almost 
alive. It was a very curious sight. Susan 
was quite astonished, and wanted to know 
what moved the first wheel- One of the 



Eve. 13.] MOTIVES FOR KEEPING THE SABBATH. 857 



The Sabbath, machinery of Providence. 

workmen showed her how it was moved by a 
another wheel. Then she wanted to know 
what moved the second wheel ; and he showed 
her how it was moved by another wheel. 
And then she wanted to know what moved 
the third, and the fourth, and so on. There 
were a great many wheels, I do not know 
how many, one moving another. At last she 
wanted to know what set them all in motion, 
and kept them moving. So the workman 
showed her a great wheel, against which the 
water from the pond pressed; and he told 
her that this wheel moved all the rest ; and 
was itself set in motion by the water from the 
pond. The water from the pond, he said, 
was the great moving power. 

So, my children, in God's government over 
men, there are, I may say, many wheels. One 
wheel moves another, and that wheel moves 
another, and so on, through a great number. 
The works of God, the Providence of God, 
the Bible, prayer, religious meditation, and 
all the means of grace, are only, I may call 



258 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 1?, 

Must give an account 

them, so many wheels set in motion to moke 
the heart better. But without the sabbath, 
these wheels would stand still. It is the 
sabbath which sets them in motion, and keeps 
them moving, so as to improve the heart. The 
sabbath is necessary to the success of all the 
means which God uses for the sanctification 
of men. It is the great moving power of the 
moral world, without which all the wheels, 
and all the machinery, which human, and I 
might almost say, divine skill, could contrive 
to govern and sanctify men, would be of no 
use. We ought, then, to be very careful to 
keep the sabbath ; for without it, whatever 
else we do, for making ourselves or others 
better, will be in vain. 

I will mention but one more reason why 
we should observe the sabbath. It is the 
different ends to loMch a well kept, and an 
abused sabbath, lead in the future world. 
We must render an account for our sabbaths 
at last, before the bar of God. We shall be 
put on trial, then, to soe whether we have 
broken any of the laws of God. You would 



Eve. 13.] MOTIVES FOR KEEPING THE SABBATH. 259 



hereafter for abused Sabbaths. 



shudder if you were guilty of one breach of 
the sixth commandment^ and were to be tried 
for murder in the court of heaven. How 
much more would you shudder if you had 
been guilty of murder, every week, from your 
childhood until the end of your life. But he 
that said " Thou shalt not kill," said, also, 
^* Remember the sabbath-day to keep it holy." 
And you trample on his authority no more 
by committing murder, than by breaking the 
sabbath. 

But a well kept sabbath will prepare you 
for the presence of God, and the smiles of 
your Saviour, and the company of angels and 
all the good, that will have gone from this 
world to heaven. There you will enjoy, for 
€ver, the rest which remainethfor the people 
of God. There 

Storms of sorrow never blow^ 
Temptations never eome, 

There 

Joy like morning dew distils, ] 

And all the air is love. 



260 CHILD^ BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eye. 13. 

Consequence of Sabbath profanation. 

But abuse your sabbaths, spend them in 
labour, in amusements, in visiting, or in idle- 
Bess, and you sink to that world of darkness 
and gloom, where there is '^ no peace to the 
wicked," and where the weary are nevei; at 
rest. 



261 
EVENING XIV. 

DANGERS THREATENING THE SABBATH. 

This evening, my children, we must close 
our conversations about the sabbath. I have 
only a few things more to say to you on the 
subject. When Charles and Susan return 
from their visit of two or three weeks to their 
aunt Mary, if our lives are all spared, perhaps 
we will converse about some other subjects^ 
for a few evenings. 

Susan. I love to spend Thanksgiving* with 
aunt Mary, and I love to play with cousin 
Jane and cousin Edward, but 1 think I shall 
love to come back and see my dear mother^ 
and hear her talk again, on sabbath evenings. 

Mrs. M, The existence of good institu- 
tions in the United States, my children, de- 
pend, as I have told you, almost entirely on 
the manner in Vv^hich the sabbath shall be 
kept. With the sabbath they will prosper^ 
without it they are undone. Will the sab- 



262 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 14- 



Causes for solicitude. 



bath then continue to be observed, as in past 
years, in this country ? Will it he, not merely 
a day devoted in part to public worsJtip, and 
in part to amusement, and in part to busi- 
ness^ but a day of holy rest, such as was 
kept by our forefathers ? 

What are the things from which we 
have reason to fear that the people of 
our country will grow more and more 
careless about observing the sabbath ? 

This is what we will converse about this 
evening. It concerns us all, my children^ 
but it concerns you, probably, more than 
your mother. The tall g"rass will soon be 
growing- over my grave, and the strifes and 
tumults above my head, will not disturb my 
sweet repose. But you are young, and hope 
to see many years. How will the sabbath be 
regarded in our country, half a century hence, 
is a question more interesting to each of you, 
than you can easily imagine, or I express. 

We have reason then to fear that the peo- 
ple of pur country will more and more dis- 



Eve. 14.] DANGERS THREATENING THE SABBATH. 263 

Government profanation of the Sabbath. 

regard the sabbath, from the transportation 
of the mail on that day. 

I have heard it stated that thirty thousand 
persons violate every sabbath, on account of 
the transportation of the mail. This includes 
not only the mail carriers, but post masters, 
and their clerks, tavern keepers, stage pro- 
prietors, and a multitude of others. I do not 
doubt that the number is quite as great as it 
has been stated, if we include those who tra- 
vel in the stages with the mail. But this is 
only a small part of the evil. A great many 
individuals are encouraged by the example of 
the government, to travel in their own car- 
riages. They think, or try to think, that 
what the government sanctions, cannot be 
wrong. The sacredness of the sabbath is 
destroyed in the minds of thousands by this 
act of the government, and they cease to re- 
gard the fourth commandment as binding, and 
the sabbath as holy. 

Whether the prayers and efforts of good 
people, can raise the sabbath from the dust^ 



264 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 14. 

Increase of foreigners. 

when it is trampled down every week by the 
order of government, is quite uncertain. 

Another reason for fear that the sabbath 
will be less and less strictly observed, is the 
increasing number of foreigners in our coun- 
try. We cannot expect that men who, from 
their childhood have regarded the sabbath as 
a day for visiting, and amusements, and sports, 
will at once regard it as we do in New-En- 
gland. But I suppose about two hundred 
thousand foreigners come to this country from 
Europe every year. They scatter into every 
part of the land, and their example must be 
unfavourable to our mode of keeping the sab- 
bath. Many of them come to New-England, 
to take the place of our inhabitants who re- 
move to the west. But the larger part flock 
to the valley of the Mississippi. 

Another reason for fear that the sabbath 
will be less regarded, in the United States, 
is the growth of large cities. They extend 
their influence farther and farther into the 
country, as they increase in size and wealth. 



Eve. 14.] DANGERS THREATENING THE SABBATH. 265 

Growth of large cities. 

Many go to these cities on business, others 
for pleasure and curiosity- They see the 
sabbath violated by the wealthy and the gay, 
and when they return home, they think it un- 
fashionable to observe the sabbath. 

These cities, send out their steam boats, 
and their sail boats, and their parties of plea- 
sure, to all the country around. Thousands 
thus trample on the sabbath in sailing and 
riding, and they make other thousands vio- 
late the sabbath in providing for their wants ; 
while multitudes learn to imitate their bad 
example. The more canals, and rail roads, 
and steam boats, connect the large cities 
with the country, the more rapid, I fear, will 
be the increase of sabbath breaking. 

Another reason for fear that the sabbath 
Will be more and more disregarded, is the in- 
crease of manufacturing villages. The po- 
pulation of these villages is composed, chiefly 
of young men and women. They will be 
apt to feel that there is no great harm in 
walking and riding a little on the sabbath, 



266 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [EveA4. 

Manufacturing villages. 

when they are shut up so much, the rest of 
the week. Many of them have been taught 
by pious parents at home, to keep the sab- 
bath. These will be in danger of yielding 
to the arguments, or invitations, or examples 
of their companions. 

Thus the whole region around may find 
the quiet of the sabbath disturbed, by par- 
ties of pleasure, from a manufacturing vil- 
lage. I know that many of these villages 
are among the most moral and orderly parts 
of the country, and that all might become 
so. But it cannot be done without more 
pains than we can expect will always be 
taken- 

Another reason for fear that the sabbath 
will cease to be kept strictly in our country, 
is the inc7ease of luxury and wealth. The 
taste for travelling, and for visiting fashion- 
able places, such as Ballston and Saratoga 
springs, the falls of Niagara, and the White 
mountains, will increase with the increase of 
luxury and wealth- When people arc ab- 



Eve. 13.] DANGERS THREATENING THE SABBATH. 267 

Sabbath stages in New- York. 

sent from home, and especially, on a jour- 
ney, they are prone to violate the sabbath. 
In the state of New-York, I am told, that 
about as many stages run on the great 
routes on the sabbath, as on any other day, 
and they are as well filled with passengers. 
This increase of travelling threatens to tram- 
ple the sabbath in the dust. 

The increase of luxury and wealth will 
tempt many to indulge in entertainments, 
and dinner parties, and other things of a 
similar kind, which will unfit them for the 
sabbath, and break the rest of their domes- 
tics. The example will extend from one 
circle to another, and we cannot set any 
bounds to the evih The violation of the 
sabbath by the nobility and the wealthy in 
England, is one of the principal causes of 
the violation of the sabbath in the lower 
classes. 

The growing want of religious instruction^ 
offers another reason for fear that the sabbath 
will be more and more profaned in our coua- 



2B8 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 14. 

New settlers. 



try, A congregation of more than one thou- 
sand is added to our population every day. 
I fear that many of these will be destitute of 
the means of religious instruction, until they 
have no regard for holy time. 

The circumstances of the people in the 
new settlements are unfavourable to keeping 
the sabbath. They v^ant to clear their land, 
and build a log house to live in, when they 
first settle down in the forests. They feel 
that they may work on the sabbath, to get 
a house to shelter them, and a little land clear 
for corn to feed their families. And it is hard 
t8 begin to keep the sabbath again, when they 
have once formed the habit of breaking it. 
Many of the people, however, had not kept 
the sabbath in their former abode. Some of 
them came from Europe, and some of them 
from places in this country where the sabbath 
is disregarded. The woods will echo on the 
sabbath to the sound of the axe, or to the 
gun of the hunter, but not to the voice of 
prayer and praise. There is no meeting for 



^t'E. 14.] Dangers threatening the sabbath. 269 

Enmity to the Sabbath. 



the worship of God, and for hearing the in- 
vitations of his mercy. The people rove 
about in the fields, and spend the day ia 
idleness, if they do not spend it in labour. 
I fear too, that there is an increasing num- 
ber of persons in our laud^ who dislike all re- 
ligious restraint. These will hate the sab- 
bath, and try to destroy it. Tliey will call it 
superstition to rest on the sabbath, and de- 
vote the day to the service of God, and 
the welfare of our own souls. They will 
laugh at those who observe the sabbath, and 
€all them old fashioned and bigoted. They 
will claim to be more liberal and enlightened 
than their neighbours, and to be less gloomy 
and fanatical than their Puritan fathers. If 
yx>u will let them ride, or walk, or vi^t, as 
much as they please, on the sabbath, or tra- 
vel when they are on a journey, or post their 
accounts now and then at home, or work on 
their farms whenever they choose to think it is 
necessary, they will have no objection to 

18 



270 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 14. 

Sabbaths in Scotland. 

such a sabbath. But they will cast ofF a 
sabbath which restrains them from pleasure 
or sin. 

But what is more discouraging stilly even 
good people in different parts of the world, 
appear to be grouping lax in keeping the sab- 
bath. 

A hundred years ago the sabbath was 
much better kept in Europe, and in this coun- 
try, than it is now. Formerly, in Scotland, 
officers went round in different quarters of 
the large towns, during public worship, to see 
if any persons were absent from church, 
without a good excuse. A writer says of 
Scotland in 1763, ^^It was fashionable to 
go to church, and people were interest- 
ed in religion, Sunday was strictly ob- 
served by all ranks, as a day of devotion, 
and it was disgraceful to be seen in the 
streets during the time of public worship," 
The same writer says, that in 1783, or 
twenty years afterwards, " Sunday was by 



EVE.U.] DANGERS THREATENING THE SABBATH. 271 



New- England. 



many made a day of relaxation, and young 
people were allowed to stroll about at all 
hours." 

This was a great change. But a similar 
change appears to have been going on in 
England. In 1761, an ambassador was 
obliged to put off his journey to Monday, 
^^ because he could get no wagoner to carry 
goods on a SundayJ^ 

In New-England, the people were at that 
time, equally strict in keeping the sabbath. 
But about the same period in which the 
change took place in England and Scotland^ 
there was a change in this country. The old 
French war, and after that, the war of the 
American revolution, turned off the thoughts 
of the people from religious subjects. They 
no longer kept the sabbath, as it was kept by 
our forefathers. The revolution in France 
increased the evil. For forty or fifty years, 
in Europe and America, good people seem 
to have been growing more and more n^jgli- 
gent in keeping the sabbath, though it is said 



9fr2 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [BVe. U, 

Great Western Canal. 

that the higher ranks in Great Britain are 
beginning to observe it more strictly. I hope 
it is so, and tfiat their exannple may be imi- 
lated in our own country. 

Theincrease of canals, and rail roads, and 
Bfeam boats^and similar means of rapid Ira- 
telling, is ttnfavotirable to the strict observ- 
ance of the sabbath. Boats pass one place 
on the Great Western Canal, in the state of 
New- York, at the rate of one in every fifteen 
minutes, on the sabbaths, as well as on other 
days. It is difficult to stop men, and make 
them rest one day in seven, v^Tien they are 
eager in pursuing their business, or their plea- 
sure. The faster they can travel, the more 
of a hardship they seem to consider it, to be 
checked by the sabbath. The more they 
need the sabbath to calm their excited 
minds, and recruit their exhausted bodies, 
the less they are grateful for the privilege of 
rest. 

More Europeans visit this country thaii 
formerly. These will not be apt to keep the^ 



fiiTE, 14.] DANGERS THREATENING THE SABBATH. 278 



Europeans. 



sabbath, and their example will lead others^ 
to neglect it. Our countrymen too, travel 
much more in Europe than they did a few 
years ago, and they will be apt to bring bacfc 
loose notions about the sabbath. These no- 
tions will spread among their friends and 
neighbours, and there is danger that in this 
way, we shall become like the French and 
Germans, and other nations that have never 
been strict in observing the sabbath. 

Books from Europe, which contain sen- 
timents about the sabbath, very different from 
those of our ancestors, are becoming more 
common in our country. These are not in- 
fidel books — but books which in many re- 
spects, are very excellent, and very much need- 
ed. What they contain respecting the sab- 
bath is, therefore, the more dangerous, and 
the more likely to do harm. The writers are 
often good men ; but in the countries where 
they wrote, the sabbath is not kept by the 
best people, as it is kept in New-England. 

One reason why the sabbath is now much 



274 CHlLD^S BOOK ON THE SABBATH, [E^e. 14. 



Roman Catholics are likely 



less regarded in Scotland than it was for- 
merly, is, that the Scotch mingle with the En- 
glish and Irish more than they did. I very 
much fear that our sabbath will be injured 
in a similar manner. 

Roman Catholics in Europe, are sending 
over money and men to extend their religion 
in the United States. If they should suc^ 
eeedj and their religion should spread over 
the land, the sabbath would he ruined. Ro- 
man Catholics never keep the sabbath as it 
is kept by Protestants. In Spain, the sab- 
bath is a day for the cruel amusements of 
bullbaiting and cockfighting. 

In Paris, '' The shops are generally open, 
the markets are thronged as on other days, 
carts and drays, and all sorts of vehicles de- 
signed for transportation of merchandize, are 
in motion ; buying and selling, and manual 
labour, proceed as usual ; there is rest nei- 
ther for man nor beast. In the afternoon, 
the shops are generally closed ; labour is 
suspended, and the remainder of the day is 



Eve. 14.] DANGERS THREATENING THE SABBATH. 275 

to extert a bad influence on the Sabbath. 

devoted to pleasure. It is their gayest holi- 
day." Another traveller says, that were a 
Nevv-Englander to arrive at Malta, on the 
sabbath, " he would not know that it is Sun- 
day. A few shops are closed, but the doors 
of a vast many more are spread wide, and 
their windows are stuffed full as usual. The 
poorer people are going about the streets 
crying wares, water, and fruit for sale. The 
market is supplied with fish, flesh, and gar- 
den stuffs, and is frequented by purchasers 
as on other days. Children are playing 
abroad. Porters in their daily apparel wait 
at the corners of the streets to take burdens, 
or other commissions which may offer, and 
watermen are plying their skiffs in the har- 
bour and inlets." We may learn, from these 
descriptions, how the sabbath would be spent 
in the United States, if the Roman Catholic 
religion should prevail here. 

In New-Orleans, where the larger part of 
the people are Roman Catholics, the sab- 
bath is not observed at all as it is in New- 



276 CHILD^S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 14 

Cathedral dedicated in St. Louis. 

England. Amusements and business are 
common. Only a short time ago, a Roman 
Catholic cathedral was consecrated on Sun- 
day in St. Louis, the capital of Missouri. 
Several military companies, both horse and 
foot, fully armed and equipped, were on pa^ 
rade, from six o'clock in the morning, until 
four o'clock in the afternoon. There wa« 
all the appearance of a military review. A 
band of music belonffinsr to the United 
States' army was present, and the sound of 
fifes and drums, and clarionets and bassoons, 
was mingled with the shouts of the rabble, 
and the roaring of cannon. The cannon 
were placed immediately in front of the 
Cathedral, The soldiers were furnished with 
food, and wine, and were complimented for 
their attendance, in the sermon at the con- 
secration. All this parade was got up by 
the Roman Catholic bishop of iSt. Louis; 
and three or four bishops ^ and about thirty 
ecclesiastics were present. So you see what 



Eve. 14.] DANGERS THREATENING THE SABBATH. 2?7 



We must unite to defend the Sabbath. 



sort of sabbaths we should have, if popery- 
were to prevail in our country. 

I might mention some other things which 
make me fear that the people of our country 
will become less and less strict in keeping 
the sabbath, until at last, they will cease to 
feel that it was sanctified by God, and must 
be spent in his service. 

George. Is there no way, mother, in which 
the sabbath can be preserved to our country? 

3Irs. 31. If good men could feel there is 
danger that the sabbath will be lost, and 
unite in its defence, something might yet be 
done. But good men are so divided about 
little things, that they do not seem to see the 
dangers which threaten the sabbath. While 
they are contending about trifles, I am afraid 
the enemies of religion will strike a fatal 
blow at the sabbath, and destroy all that is 
holy and excellent in the land, 

George. If men will not do any thing to 
save the sabbath, is there nothing, mother, 
iFhich children and youth can do. 

19 



278 CHILD'S BOOK ON THE SABBATH. [Eve. 14 



What children can do. 



Mrs. M. Yes, children and youth can pray 
that the sabbath may not be taken from our 
land, le it we sliould be smitten with a curse, 
and the God of our fathers should leave our 
nation to ruin. The children and youth who 
are now growing up, will have to decide 
whether the sabbath shall be only a day of 
sport and amusement — or whether it shall be 
a day when the poor shall rest and be re- 
freshed, and when souls shall be sanctified, 
and fitted for heaven. You, my children, and 
those of your age, will decide whether the 
sabbath in this country shall be a day, in 
which God will delight to bless his people ; 
or a day for the abuse of which, he will in- 
flict on our land the severest judgments. 

For this reason, I have tried to show you 
the value of the sabbath, and your obligations 
to keep it. The struggle to preserve the 
sabbath, you see, from what I have told 
you, this evening, will be hard — but remem- 
ber, my children, thai; your mother coni- 
mands you to surrender every thing else 



Eve. 14.] DANGERS THREATENING THE SABBATH. 279 

A well kept Sabbath, a badge of liberty. 

sooner than the sabbath. Give up property, 
give up honour, give up lile — but never, no, 
never give up the sabbath. Go sooner to 
the stake ; sooner let the earth drink your 
blood, than yield up the sabbath, which you 
have received, as a precious legacy, from 
your pilgrim fathers. Kemembcr that to 
Americans a well kept sabbath is a badge of 
liberty. Without it, they can never be free. 
With it, they can never be enslaved. It is 
written in the counscds of heaven — it is 
written in the experience of other ages. It 
is written on the tomb stone of disobedient 
nations, " Remkmber the sabbath day to 

KEEP IT HOLY, OR PERISH UNDER THE WRATH 
OF AN INSULTED GoDc" 



THE E N D 



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